Officials in Oregon are looking into whether some ballots were left in Corvallis mailboxes on this May’s Election Day.
In Oregon, a ballot must be postmarked by Election Day or it won’t be counted. That means that a post office has to process it.
However, the local mail carrier union told the Corvallis Gazette-Times this month that the post office told workers to focus on delivering packages on May 19, rather than picking up mail.
Benton County spokesperson Anne Thwaits said the county has now met with state and federal officials over the concerns.
She said it’s unclear how many ballots were affected. But she said just 388 ballots were postmarked late across the whole county.
“This incident, if there were ballots not picked up, did not affect the outcome of any of the races or the measures that were on the ballot,” said Thwaits. “None of them had a margin that was that small.”
Thwaits said the county is now waiting for the United States Postal Service to release a detailed statement sharing what it knows so far and what it shared at a recent meeting.
She said the USPS already doesn’t guarantee that mail will be postmarked the same day it’s picked up.
In a statement last Thursday, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read called for USPS to review its policies.
“Service cuts to the USPS have already slowed processing and postmarking of all mail, and voters need to know if there is a likelihood of additional delays at the mailbox,” said Read. “Unexpected delays cannot happen in November.”
In an email to KLCC, USPS spokesperson Janella Biggs said the agency had met with county and state election officials and found no evidence of ballot delays.
“Our longstanding message to voters who choose to vote by mail is to mail early–before Election Day, and at least one week before the deadline by which your completed ballot must be received,” said Biggs.
