Rural Mail-In Ballots at Risk as Post Office Finalizes Changes to Postmark Dates
The United States Postal Service (USPS) finalized a rule on postmarks to reflect changes in its mail pickup processes that could cause an uptick in blown deadlines for documents sent by post, including mail-in ballots.
The USPS proposed the rule in September to clarify that postmarks — the time stamp placed by the post office on pieces of mail, which is often used to establish the date something was sent for legal purposes — are applied at a regional processing facility, not when the USPS takes possession of the mail.
For decades, these dates were the same. But in an attempt to lower costs, USPS recently began eliminating evening mail pickups from post offices more than 50 miles away from a regional processing facility, which are mostly located in or around major cities.
Consequently, mail sent in rural areas will be postmarked and delivered at least one day later than before. And for mail voters, submitting their ballots the day or two before Election Day could mean it arrives too late to be counted — even in states that offer grace periods for tardy votes.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/rural-mail-in-ballots-at-risk-as-post-office-finalizes-changes-to-postmark-dates/