The changes, adopted last April and last December, could add at least a day to the time between when a mail-in ballot is sent and when it receives the postmark needed to be legally admissible.
Completed mail ballots must be postmarked by 7 p.m. on Election Day and received by 5 p.m. on the first mail delivery day after Election Day. A pair of policy changes at the U.S. Postal Service have the potential to impact whether some mail-in ballots are counted in upcoming elections, particularly in Texas .
Completed mail ballots must be postmarked by 7 p.m. on Election Day and received by 5 p.m. on the first mail delivery day after Election Day. The Democratic and Republican "The postmark now is applied when it reaches a processing facility, not when you drop it in your post box," said Jessica Pace, communications and education manager at the League of Women Voters Houston."So … whether it’s your postage for USPS driver to pick up or one of their blue boxes at their locations, that’s no longer a viable date to have … something like your ballot postmarked." The change follows one the postal service made last April that cut in half the number of mail truck visits to post offices in ZIP codes more than 50 miles from a regional processing and distribution center. "In years past, the postal service would have trucks that would pick up mail at each of the post offices and bring it to a regional center twice a day, so you had a better chance of your ballot or your mail being brought back and postmarked the same day," said Tom Lopach, president and CEO of the nonprofit Voter Participation Center."Now, as of April, they only have trucks going once a day to pick up mail, and now they’re only allowing the postmark to take place at a regional facility. So, in a place like Houston, you may well drop off your piece of mail at your local post office or your suburban post office after 3 in the afternoon, and it may not get postmarked ’til the next day." Texans are eligible to vote by mail if they are age 65 or older on Election Day; are sick or disabled; will be out of their home county during early voting and on Election Day; are expected to give birth within three weeks before or after Election Day; or are jailed but otherwise eligible to vote.The Voter Participation Center is actively involved in promoting voting by mail, using high-volume direct mail and digital outreach, with a particular focus on people of color, young people and unmarried women.the following statement: “We notify election directors in every state, including Texas, ahead of our mailings, and appreciate their review to ensure that we are sending voters in the state the most up-to-date election materials.” According to a document released by the postal service before the December change went into effect, the new policies – defined as"changes in service standards" – were being adopted"to improve operational efficiency and precision."of all Texas post offices are affected by the policy changes. Rural Texans, many of whom live outside that 50-mile radius of a regional processing center, are particularly vulnerable to having their mail-in ballots not reaching the centers by Election Day – the date which, by Texas law, mail-in ballots have to be postmarked in order to be legally admissible – if they delay sending them out. "Texas is the first state where we're going to see how this impacts voters with your March 3 primary," Lopach said."And in 2024 in the general election, Texas had 398,000 people who voted by mail. So, there’s a significant number of people that could be impacted whose mail-in ballots may not be counted." Pace, of the League of Women Voters Houston, stressed that the window to ensure a mail-in ballot is counted is rapidly closing. She's encouraging people planning to vote by mail to get their ballots postmarked as soon as possible. "You can also go to a USPS facility and walk it in and have one of the members of the USPS manually stamp your ballot, saying that it is postmarked on that day," Pace said."Dropping it into the mailbox isn't viable unless you're really beating that Election Day deadline."
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