Many American voters are caught between competing concerns regarding the fall presidential election, as they weigh fears about the public health risks of voting in person against growing alarm about the ability of the U.S. Postal Service to deliver a mail-in ballot on time.
Worries about the Postal Service have mounted in recent days after President Trump said he might oppose funding the agency to stop Americans from voting by mail. And on Friday it was revealed that the Postal Service recently warned 46 states and the District of Columbia that it may not be able to deliver all mail-in ballots on time.
One option available in most states is to fill out a mail-in ballot and deliver it to your local election office. Most states organize their local elections by county. But voters can go on their state Board of Elections or secretary of state website and look for a list of local election offices. The added bonus of going to an in-person early voting site is that if you are not a registered voter yet — and you don’t have a ballot yet — in 21 states you can register the same day you vote.
Washington state has tracked drop box usage since the 2012 election. In that year, just over a third of all ballots returned came in through secure drop boxes. In 2016, drop boxes accounted for almost two-thirds of all returned ballots. Marc Elias, a Democratic attorney who is overseeing much of the litigation to ensure more access to voting, wrote on his blog on Friday that “community organizations in states that allow ballot collection should consider setting up their own drop boxes now.”
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