Mail-in voting may be under threat in Washington state and nationwide after a change in postmarking rules.
Mail-in voting may be under threat in Washington state and nationwide after a change in postmarking rules has led to an increasing number of ballots being disqualified and not counted.
The number of rejected ballots is surging under the changes by the United States Postal Service, and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and Secretary of State Steve Hobbs are raising alarms with voters.
The rate of ballots rejected for late postmarks, known as “too-lates,” jumped 32% statewide compared with Washington’s 2024 primary, according to data released by Cantwell, a Democrat, and Secretary of State Steve Hobbs.
In 19 counties, the rate of late-postmarked ballots more than doubled. Mason and Stevens counties saw rates about four times higher than during the 2024 primary, they said.
Washington, which conducts elections almost entirely by mail, requires ballots to be postmarked by Election Day or placed in an official drop box by 8 p.m. Ballots that arrive after the deadline without a timely postmark are not counted.
Cantwell and Hobbs blamed a USPS policy finalized in December that moved postmarking from local post offices to regional processing and distribution centers.
They said the change can leave ballots without a postmark for days after voters deposit them in mailboxes.
Under the policy, pushed by President Donald Trump, mail from post offices more than 50 miles from a distribution center may be transported there once a day rather than twice.
Cantwell said the change puts voters at risk of having ballots rejected even if they mail them before Election Day.
The senator cited a test conducted by Snohomish County during a February special election that illustrated the concern.
Election workers placed generic return-ballot envelopes in USPS blue collection boxes on several dates before the election.
Of 15 envelopes mailed before 9 a.m. on Election Day, only seven received a postmark that day, the county found. Another seven were postmarked the following day and would not have been counted. One had not been received by the county two days later.
In another test, 25 envelopes placed in collection boxes before 10 a.m. on the day before Election Day were largely not postmarked until Election Day, according to the information released by Cantwell.
The dispute comes as the Postal Service faces budget pressures and complaints about delivery delays nationwide. It also follows an executive order from President Donald Trump seeking changes to mail voting and election administration.
Nearly two dozen states have sued over the order, which would require states to provide voter information and would give the Postal Service authority to block mail ballots in states that do not comply.
A federal judge last week blocked the Postal Service from moving forward, finding the plan appeared to exceed the agency’s legal authority and risked disrupting elections less than 70 days before the midterms. The administration is appealing.
A USPS spokesperson provided a written statement that said, "through August 28, the Postal Service has delivered 233.3 million pieces of Election Mail nationwide during Fiscal Year 2026, with an on-time score of 97.94%."
The statement went on to say that the "Postal Service has not changed our postmarking practices – we clarified them in a rule that took effect in December of last year. Postmarks are generally applied at our originating processing facilities and will continue to be applied at those facilities in the same manner and to the same extent as before we filed the rule."
Cantwell characterized the postmarking policy as part of the Trump administration’s effort to restrict mail voting.
Hobbs and Cantwell urged Washington voters not to wait until Election Day to mail ballots and to use official drop boxes whenever possible.
