Going Postal
Far more people believe their vote will count this November if they vote in person than by mail. About 30 percent of individuals polled recently said they were very confident their vote would be counted accurately if they voted by mail. This contrasts with about 70 percent who were sure their vote would be counted if they voted in person on Election Day.
One concern is that mail-in ballots won’t be received early enough or delivered promptly to election authorities. As reported in Fortune, thousands of mail-in ballots requested by voters in Wisconsin for the state primary were never delivered because of postal delays. In New York, one in five mail-in ballots received by election officials were not counted, many because they arrived past the deadline.
As of September 6, more than 1.3 million people in the state of Illinois have requested mail-in ballots. This far exceeds totals for the last two general elections. In 2016, 428,000 people requested mail-in ballots; in 2012, the number was 222,000.
Do Illinoisans and Chicagoans have reason to worry about mail-in voting? No, assured representatives from the US Postal Service during an online program sponsored by LWVILon August 26.
Mail Delivery Delays
As Jean Pierce, LWVIL board director, pointed out, some residents of Chicago reported weeks-long delays in mail delivery earlier this year. Widely publicized changes made by the newly installed postmaster general Louis DeJoy have been blamed, such as taking some mail processing machines off line and removing blue collection boxes from street corners.
The delays in Chicago and other parts of Illinois most likely were due more to the effects of COVID-19 than to post services operation, said Michele Robinson and Jonah Torres Jacinto of the USPS. Robinson noted that the mail currently is being processed and delivered according to traditional postal service standards. While some mail processing machines and blue collection boxes were removed in the state of Iowa, nothing similar has been reported in this area, according to Jacinto, Senior Executive Mailing Strategist for Central Illinois.
What’s more, a special statement from DeJoy in an internal postal service newsletter on August 18 assured that retail hours at post offices will not change, processing equipment and blue collection boxes will remain where they are, and overtime pay will be continued.
On Thursday, September 17, a federal judge in Yakima, Washington, issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking USPS service changesthat have slowed the delivery of mail across the country. Among other steps, the order calls for USPS to reinstate mail processing machines that have been put off line and ensure prompt handling of all election mail.
Handling Election Mail
Election mail—both outbound and returns—classifies as first-class mail. It is identified as an official “mail vote” on each piece, and each piece is expected to meet a delivery standard of 2 to 3 days.
There are many processes for ensuring that mail is delivered on time, Robinson said. Nevertheless, because of the volume of mail expected around Election Day, plus the continuing presence of COVID-19, voters are encouraged to mail in early. “If we didn’t have Covid, it might run like a normal election as far as processing mail-in voting. But more people may want to vote by mail than to go into a polling place. The volume will be much higher than normal. That’s why we’re saying the earlier the better,” she said.
How early? The General Counsel to the Executive Director for the Illinois State Board of Elections advises allowing 15 days for delivery. That means dropping in your ballot in the mail by October 19.