Primary Ballot not Counted due to USPS SNAFU

Because my family had to quarantine for two weeks leading to the Primary, my mother and I both applied for and received advanced ballots.

After filling out and signing out ballots, I dropped them off together at the drop box at the Downtown Lawrence post office on August 1.

The ballots should have gone from Lawrence to the Shawnee Mission sorting facility, then to Oskaloosa for delivery to the Jefferson County Clerk.

Thanks to tracking information available via the Kansas Secretary of State, I was able to determine the status of the ballots. My ballot was received on August 3rd and had no problems being accepted. However, my mom’s ballot was not received until August 10th and was rejected for being received after the August 7th deadline.

I cannot think of only two reasons for the two ballots picked up from the same mailbox at the same time being delivered a week apart.

  • A conscious decision to “hold” the ballot. The new Postmaster General has initiated an edict stating that late-arriving mail is to be held and delivered the next day. Even so, that still doesn’t explain why it took five business days for a ballot to make that trip.
  • Human error. Perhaps the ballot got left at the bottom of a sorting bag and didn’t get noticed for a few days.

Either way, in the General Election, we will likely vote in person or take the ballots directly to the courthouse.


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