BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO USPS: TIMELY POSTMARKS MATTER FOR MAIL-IN BALLOTS

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, September 17, 2025

The Montgomery County Board of Elections expressed concerns to the United States Postal Service (USPS) last week about a proposed rule that would state that a letter’s postmark date is not necessarily the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of a mail piece. 

“The Board on a unanimous bipartisan basis expressed its concerns that any delays in applying postmarks to election mail raise the risk of timely ballots appearing to be untimely,” said Board President David A. Naimon.  “The Board is required in every election to invalidate hundreds of ballots that are deemed untimely, and accurate postmarks are necessary to assure that valid ballots are not invalidated.” 

The Board’s full submitted comments on the proposed rule are posted on the Board’s website here.

About one-third or more of Montgomery County voters (including military and overseas voters) in the 2022 and 2024 elections voted by mail-in ballot.  Almost half of mail-in ballots in these elections were returned by U.S. mail, with most of the rest returned to drop boxes and some returned in-person.  A significant number of mail-in ballots are returned on or just before Election Day.  As the Board pointed out to the USPS, “Given that the 2022 Montgomery County Executive primary election was decided by 32 votes, how mail-in ballots are postmarked by USPS has the potential to significantly affect our elections.”

“The Board said any change in collection or processing practices that makes it less likely that election mail will be postmarked when the Postal Service first has possession of a mail piece makes the Board’s job of distinguishing between timely mailed ballots (those mailed on or before Election Day) and untimely mailed ballots (those mailed after Election Day) more difficult,” said Board Secretary Amie Hoeber.  “This is especially true for ballots deposited in the U.S. mail in the last week before Election Day.”

The Board also expressed its concern that earlier this year the USPS ended end-of-day collections at about 70% of post offices across the country, meaning that outgoing mail in those locations is no longer picked up in the afternoon and more mail sits overnight until the next morning’s pick-up, presumably prior to being postmarked.  The Board called this “a step in the wrong direction where election-related mail is concerned, and it could lead to greater confusion about election rules at a time when quite a bit of confusion already exists.  With respect to voted ballots that were, in fact, mailed on or before Election Day, the [USPS] initiative’s anticipated effect of making a postmark less reliable evidence of that fact poses an especially severe risk of disenfranchisement.”

The Board suggested that USPS enhance staffing for at least a week before an Election Day and also encouraged USPS to have an advertising campaign to explain to voters how many days in advance they may need to mail their ballot for it to be postmarked by Election Day and that they can get a free postmark at any retail post office.  “The Board plans to include such information in our own outreach advertising, but our advertising budget is small and very focused on our county,” Board President Naimon said, adding that USPS advertising “could assist USPS customers across the country in avoiding deadline issues caused by changes in the postmark policy or practice.”

Media Contact: Gilberto Zelaya 240-777-8625