These 1 deadlines can determine if your ballot was rejected

As of Oct. 22, more than 11 million mail-in ballots had been returned, according to the University of Florida Elections Lab’s Early Voter Tracking System. There are less than two weeks until Election Day, and if you plan to vote by mail, you should mail your ballot as soon as possible.

This is because, depending on where you live, your closing date may be sooner than you think. Thirty-two states require absentee and mail-in ballots to be received on or before polls close on Election Day. In other words, your completed mail-in ballot must arrive at your local elections office on or before November 5, without exception, in order for it to be counted.

“We do see ballots being rejected because they arrive too late,” U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chairman Ben Hovland told The Huffington Post. “Again, this is both unfortunate and an incurable condition. ”

Ballots that arrived past state deadlines accounted for 12% of all rejected ballots in the 2020 election, according to the Election Assistance Commission report.

Unlike other voting mistakes, such as forgetting a signature, voters don’t get to do it again. If your ballot is rejected due to a signature mismatch, most states will give you a chance to correct the error after Election Day, but there is no “cure” process for ballots that arrive after the state’s legal voting deadline.

However, if you live in a state with a “postmarked by” deadline, you have more wiggle room than a state with a “received by” deadline. Typically, states with “postmark” deadlines require that your mail-in ballot be mailed by Election Day and received by your voting jurisdiction within a certain number of days after the election.

Hovland said there are “really valid” arguments for the “recipient” or “postmark” standards used by states.

“The postmark standard is more cushioning, which generally benefits voters. You can count the ones that might be late,” Hovland said. “Also, people procrastinate, too, and if they know something has to be done by Election Day, then you leave it at the door.”

Hovland cited the example of Colorado, which has an Election Day “cutoff date” but also offers many early voting options and drop boxes for voters. That way, Colorado officials can pre-process ballots and “have a pretty good idea of ​​what the results will be on election night.”

You need to give your ballot enough time to be processed by mail—especially if your state has a “deadline.”

Even if your mailbox location is actually near your local elections office, that doesn’t mean your ballot will be processed faster. “If you sit there and think, ‘I’m going to mail this out the day before the election,’ then if it then goes into the process and the factory in another town, it’s going to take a few days to start its journey,” Hovland explain.

In September, the presidents of 29 local associations of election officials sent a joint letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, expressing concerns about delayed arrival of ballots “well beyond” the three to five-day level. Delivery Standards Express Concern US Postal Service Commits. The joint letter cited instances in multiple states of “hundreds” of ballots arriving 10 or more days postmarked.

In his reply, DeJoy said that in the 2020 election, the U.S. Postal Service delivered “99.9% of voters’ ballots to election officials within seven days,” with the average mail delivery time being 2.7 days. But as a “common sense measure,” DeJoy’s letter also recommended that voters return completed ballots at least a week before the state deadline.

So if you’re counting down the days and worried your ballot won’t arrive in time, check to see if you can vote in person.

In many cases, even if you receive a mail-in ballot, you can still vote in person. But how you vote may differ depending on your jurisdiction. For example, you may need to cast a provisional ballot so officials know you won’t vote twice, or you may need to take your mail-in ballot to a polling location to have it invalidated.

In some jurisdictions, you can also hand-deliver your mail-in ballot, but there are deadlines in those cases. Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, North Dakota and Vermont require hand-mailed ballots to be returned to election offices at least the day before Election Day.

Either way, make a plan to vote quickly. If you have questions about missing the mailing deadline, please contact your local election official for details.

“Time is running out. So if you want to request [your mail-in ballot]I would say, do it immediately or figure out if there are other options,” Hovland said. “Can you vote early in person? Can you vote on Election Day? Of course there’s no delay.