Absentee ballots in the mail for this week’s primary elections have to be postmarked by Tuesday and delivered by Thursday to be counted. But some ballots postmarked on Tuesday may not have made it through the U.S. mail in time to reach municipal clerks’ offices by Thursday. The responsibility for timely ballots lies somewhere between the voter and the postal service.
The postal servicesays standard mail takes three days in most areas of the state, but in parts of Fairfield County it can take up to six. It goes down to two days for mail sent first class anywhere in the state.
So ballots dropped in a regular mailbox on Tuesday may not make it in time to be counted.
Gabe Rosenberg, communications director for the secretary of the state, says the Thursday “received” date was chosen to help local officials stay on schedule for the general election.
“We have consulted with the post office every step of the way,” Rosenberg said. “They have a way of pulling specifically the election mail to make sure that it gets delivered faster.”
That fast-tracking by the postal service may be essential. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said most ballots made it to voters by Monday, delayed in part by Tropical Storm Isaias. If sent by standard mail on Monday, three days would put those ballots in the hands of municipal clerks by Thursday.
The U.S. Postal Service recommends voters request their ballots no later than 15 days before election day. In a statement, the service said “voters must use First-Class Mail or an expedited level of service to return their completed ballots.” The New York Times reported that first-class postage was only a suggestion from the agency to local election officials.
Meanwhile, the postal service itself is under scrutiny after the appointment of Trump loyalist Louis DeJoy as postmaster general and his ensuing overhaul of the service. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal cited the cuts to the U.S. Postal Service budget as an effort to suppress the vote.
“The great threat to mail-in balloting, purposefully designed to reduce it by the president, is in fact the United States Postal Service, because of delays and costs that we haven’t previously seen,” Blumenthal said at a news conference Wednesday.
The postmark rule will not apply to the general election in November. Gov. Ned Lamont said Wednesday that he wants to see results on election night.
Ali Oshinskie is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
