N.Y. elections officials urge early return of primary election mail, absentee ballots due to USPS change

[RandySF]

The New York state Board of Elections wants voters to return early mail and absentee ballots in the June primary elections as soon as they can as a result of changes to U.S. Postal Service postmark procedures, officials said Tuesday.

The new policy means a postmark reflects the date a piece of mail is processed at a postal facility rather than the date it was deposited in the mail.

Consequently, mail placed in a mailbox on a particular day may not receive a postmark until a later date. Since state election law allows ballots to be postmarked up through Election Day, a delay in a postmark could mean it not being counted. The state is encouraging voters to mail their ballots well before the deadline or return ballots directly to a poll site or their county board of elections.

“While these postal changes do not alter New York's election laws, they underscore the importance of voters making a plan to return their ballot,” said Kristen Zebrowski Stavisky, co-executive director of the state Board of Elections. “The most effective step voters can take is to return their ballot early. Doing so helps ensure their vote reaches election officials in a timely manner and eliminates uncertainty related to mail processing.


https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2026/06/09/n-y--urges-early-return-of-primary-mail--absentee-ballots-due-to-usps-change

[PATRICK]

1. The best advice from a postal worker

Every day delayed is skirting toward loss of your vote. The internal delay inside the network might mean more days delay than you think, especially toward a weekend. Don't second guess whether you can get a postmark at your local post office. Don't bother trying to figure out where in the fringe of the consolidated network you are and how much delay that will cause. Most people don't even know the farther away you are from a point of consolidation, the harder it is. Mail needing corrections are sent even farther away, possibly out of state. The national mail service may still be beset by listing schemes against voters, especially this fall, even if NYS is against them.

Mail as early as possible and track as possible. Prepare your mailing carefully. Don't forget the exterior envelope. Have a contingency plan to vote in person, use drop box, whatever. Stay on it. Every election. In the crush a lot of mail including ballots bypasses the cancellation machine with only a light "red tag" barcode on the back to identify it or maybe just in the manual leftovers. A lot of manual or timed out mail piles up at the end of the night necessitating culling for ballots and postmarking- but during primaries? Unlikely. A small percentage granted, but all made more possible with the new system. Plus we get a small number of ballots going to and fro from literally everywhere not getting special treatment. Don't even risk being in that small number of fatally delayed ballots..