Absentee ballots are ready to be sent to Wisconsin voters. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — Election officials at the state and local levels are calling on the United States Postal Service to speed up delivery of absentee ballots during future Wisconsin elections.
It comes after hundreds of voters’ ballots sent in for the April election arrived too late, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
The WEC said that prompted concern about the delivery speed of mail-in ballots.
“There was a lot of complaints that came from election clerks, municipal clerks, that were saying that it took a long time for ballots to return. Some of them were late in being returned,” WEC member Marge Bostelmann said.
A recent letter from the WEC to USPS said two-thirds of Wisconsin clerks reported problems with receiving mail-in ballots during last month’s election. Bostelmann said it was the most complaints the WEC has ever gotten about late delivery of ballots.
“It looked as if they had been postmarked early enough that they should have been received by the time the election took place,” Bostelmann said.
She said she is upset for those voters whose ballots weren’t counted. The WEC’s letter asks USPS to enact “extraordinary measures” in future elections. That means USPS would need to speed up its process to ensure every absentee ballot reaches its proper destination as soon as possible.
In Wisconsin, a postmark date does not matter; each mail-in ballot must be in the clerk’s hands by 8 p.m. on the day of the election in order to be counted.
“We did not get any ballots on April 7 after 5 o’clock, but the next day, literally 14 hours later, we received 88 ballots, which is very unusual for any election,” Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys said.
For general elections, Jeffreys said she typically receives less than two dozen absentee ballots the next day. However, this wasn’t just a Green Bay problem in last month’s election.
Appleton saw 78 ballots arrive late, Fond du Lac had 54 and Milwaukee had 269. Outagamie County saw 137 late ballots, while Fond du Lac County had more than 100.
Fond du Lac City Clerk Margaret Hefter said it’s not only a USPS issue, but a systemic problem, too.
“[Voters] do have until the Thursday before the election to request an absentee ballot for us to process and get it out in the mail. I just feel that’s not enough time to mail it and somebody to return it through the mail,” Hefter said.
She said given recent slowdowns with USPS delivery, it’s important to mail your absentee ballot at least two weeks ahead of time.
However, Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Bob Spindell said municipal clerks need to be in closer communication with the Postal Service moving forward.
“I think it’s up to the clerks to take initiative on their own and get with their local postmaster, and I think they’ll be pleasantly happy, as many are, with how cooperative the Postal Service will be,” Spindell said.
Municipal clerks and the WEC hope their request to the Postal Service is understood in time for the August primary election.
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