A map shows that several Washington counties that backed President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election have seen the biggest surge in the rate of ballots being rejected for late postmarks, fueling concerns that voters will face being disenfranchised in November’s crucial midterm elections. A snapshot report released by Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, said data from Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’ office showed that late-postmark rejection rates have more than doubled in 19 counties compared to the 2024 primaries, including in states that backed Trump over former Democratic vice president Kamala Harris in the last presidential election. It comes as changes in USPS policies have raised concerns about voting by mail, particularly in the states where the method is most popular.
Trump, a Republican, has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting and claimed that it leads to fraud despite evidence to the contrary and his own repeated use of the method to vote. Other states have also reported an increase in ballots being rejected for late postmarks. Oregon officials announced on Tuesday that 7,314 ballots that arrived in the mail during the state’s seven-day grace period for this year’s May primary were not counted because they were postmarked after Election Day.
That meant a rejection rate of 13 percent in this year’s primary, up from 9.5 percent in the 2024 primary. The report said that rate of ballots rejected for late postmarks increased by 32 percent in Washington state’s August primary compared to the 2024 primary. According to the data, the five counties that saw the biggest surge in the late-postmark rejection rates between the 2024 and 2026 primaries all backed Trump in 2024.
Mason County recorded a 329.7 percent increase, followed by Stevens County with 303.7 percent, Yakima County with 268.5 percent, Okanogan County with 263.5 percent and Franklin County at 206 percent. But while the biggest surges were concentrated in Republican-leaning counties, some counties that were won by Harris also saw a substantial increase in the rate of ballots discounted for late postmarks. Clallam County saw a 199 percent increase in ballots rejected for late postmarks between the 2024 and 2026 primaries, while Whitman County saw a 133.2 percent increase.
Snohomish County, which also backed Harris, saw an increase of 66.9 percent. At a news conference earlier in September, Cantwell attributed the increase in ballot rejection rates to changes in USPS policies and said they have led to significant voter disenfranchisement in her state, particularly in rural areas. She also noted that Trump may be disenfranchising some of his own supporters.
"I find a little bit of irony here that the president may be disenfranchising his most stable voters in rural communities by taking the vote away," she said. In December, USPS finalized a rule clarifying that postmarks don’t necessarily reflect the date the agency first took possession of a piece of mail, but the day it was handled in one of its processing centers. That raised questions about mail-in ballots, which in some states depend on a postmark date to determine if a vote counts.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
