Ballots discounted for late postmarks surged in Washington and Oregon after Postal Service changes

SEATTLE (AP) — The number of ballots rejected for late postmarks has soared in the vote-by-mail states of Washington and Oregon, according to newly released data highlighting concerns about recent changes in U.S. Postal Service operations ahead of this fall’s pivotal midterm election. The struggling agency has been consolidating its operations with an emphasis on regional hubs in an effort to save billions of dollars.

senators and election officials for months have been warning that the changes could delay the application of postmarks to ballots — even if they’re mailed on or before Election Day. That would prevent otherwise valid votes from counting. That prediction is being borne out, they say, with thousands of voters having their ballots rejected during this year’s primaries.

“More Oregonians had their voices go unheard just because their ballots couldn’t make it through the mail in time,” Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read told a news conference Tuesday, referring to the state’s primary in May. “That is unacceptable.” The operational changes at the Postal Service are compounding worries about the future of voting by mail, especially in some Western states where the method is universal and widely popular. Trump has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting, falsely claiming it’s riddled with fraud, despite having voted by mail himself.

Over the weekend, his administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a judge’s ruling blocking his executive order that seeks to restrict mail-in voting, a method used by nearly one-third of voters in the U.S. States rush to install more drop boxes Read said he is asking lawmakers for emergency funding to install 20 new ballot drop boxes in areas where they’re not otherwise easily accessible to voters.

Washington’s secretary of state this year has spent about $300,000 to reimburse counties for the addition of 21 drop boxes. In two rural Washington counties — both of which have reliably backed President Donald Trump — ballots rejected for late postmarks represented more than 4% of all ballots cast in last month’s primary. Maria Cantwell of Washington called it ironic that postal changes might disenfranchise some of Trump’s most stable supporters.

“The Postal Service is disenfranchising voters across the United States with policies that are leaving them with a ballot that was cast, but never c… Postal Service operations ahead of this fall's…