Mail your ballots with time to spare, officials say

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 27, 2025

EVERETT — An Everett resident is hoping to raise awareness about the deadlines needed to turn in ballots after votes she dropped off at the post office weren’t counted in the August primary election.

Connie Chapman took her and her husband’s ballots to the downtown Everett post office around 2 p.m. Aug. 5, a few hours before the last collection for the day at 5 p.m. She assumed her ballots would make the deadline to be postmarked, but when she checked the status of her ballot later, she found that her and her husband’s votes were not counted due to not being postmarked in time.

Chapman said there was a lack of clear communication about the fact mail may not be postmarked on the same day when dropped off at a post office.

“I’ve done different things over the years, I’ve used the ballot drop box, I’ve put it in the mail box to be picked up by the carrier,” Chapman said. “This is the first time it wasn’t postmarked on the day I put it in the slot at the post office.”

The United States Postal Service has never guaranteed same-day postmarking, given the variety of ways mail can enter the postal network, postal service spokesperson Zachary Laux wrote in an email.

“Because mail is not always first processed on the day that it is collected, the date on a postmark applied at a processing facility does not always align with when we received the mail,” he wrote. “As we modernize our transportation network and our mail processing network, it may become more common that mail is postmarked at the processing facility a day after it is collected by a carrier or dropped off at a post office.”

Voters can ensure their ballots, or any other piece of mail, are postmarked on the same day by visiting a USPS branch and requesting a free manual postmark at the counter, Laux said.

Chapman said signage in the post office during election season could make it clear that mail may not be postmarked on the same day as it’s dropped off, and encourage voters to bring ballots to the counter.

Here are other ways you can ensure your ballot is counted:

Mail your ballot before Election Day, and at least one week before the deadline by which your ballot must be received by local election officials.

Use one of Snohomish County’s 35 official ballot drop boxes. Those boxes are open 24 hours per day, and voters can drop off ballots until 8 p.m. on Election day.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.