North Dakota Election Official says Postmark Problems From Primary Should not be Repeated

(North Dakota Monitor) -The person in charge of North Dakota’s elections said he hopes a return to an “all hands on deck” policy by the U.S. Postal Service will prevent the postmarking problem that arose during the state primary.

At least five counties reported receiving absentee ballots for the June primary election that did not have a postmark. That left it up to each county’s canvassing committee to decide whether to accept the ballots.

North Dakota Secretary of State Michael Howe said the U.S. Postal Service is returning to an “extraordinary measures” policy that was first used in the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020.

“It’s basically all hands on deck at USPS, if any piece of election mail comes through, ensuring it gets a postmark, ensuring it’s delivered in a timely manner, ensuring nothing gets missed,” Howe said.

Howe was with Postal Service officials in Grand Forks last week and took part in a panel about mail delivery problems, including delays in newspaper delivery.

“I was so very glad they came to the table and are working with us and very confident things will go smoothly as we march toward Nov. 5,” Howe said.

The Postal Service mentioned “extraordinary measures” in a fact sheet along with a news release about other potential changes in mail delivery.

“As is the case with all elections, USPS will pursue extraordinary measures to ensure timely ballot delivery and will continue working with Boards of Elections to ensure clear communication regarding Election Mail,” the fact sheet said.

A media contact for the Postal Service did not reply to a Monitor email requesting more information on the policy.

Howe said the nationwide election policy was implemented for the 2020 primary elections, when COVID-19 forced more voting by mail. He said it also was used in the 2022 general election.

Using Burleigh County as an example, Howe said that in the 2020 primary that was all mail voting, there were 22,628 votes cast with only 15 that had no postmark, 0.06%. The 2022 primary had 3,027 absentee ballots and only one with no postmark, or 0.03%

But in this year’s primary, without the policy, out of 2,666 absentee votes, 58 had no postmark, or 2.17%. He said he shared those numbers with the Postal Service while in Grand Forks.

“I hope June 2024 is an anomaly,” Howe said.

The Burleigh County canvassing board voted 5-4 to approve the 58 ballots that were not postmarked.

Howe said a bulk of them arrived the day after the June 11 primary election, so it seems likely that they were mailed before the June 10 deadline.

The Secretary of State’s Office has a ballot tracker that allows absentee voters to know if their ballot was received by the county, but they won’t know if their ballot was accepted.

He said absentee voters can go into a post office and bring their ballot to a clerk at the counter to ensure their ballot is postmarked, but he said that should not be necessary.

Howe said he also has requested a point of contact for every North Dakota post office to share with election officials. He said that is something he has requested in the past from the Postal Service but has not received.

Absentee voting for North Dakotans who are overseas begins Sept. 20. Early voting begins Sept. 26.