AP reporting revealed USPS mail-transport changes drove ballot-rejection surge in Washington, Oregon

On September 8, 2026, Associated Press reporting on newly released state data revealed that ballot rejections for late postmarks have surged in Washington and Oregon since the U.S. Postal Service changed how it transports and postmarks mail. In a final rule published in the Federal Register on November 24, 2025 and effective that December, the agency clarified that a postmark reflects when mail was handled at a processing facility rather than when the Postal Service first took possession of it -- facilities that have grown more distant from many communities under the agency's Regional Transportation Optimization consolidation. USPS has also, since sometime in 2025 (sourcing gives no more precise date), transported mail only once a day, rather than twice, from post offices and collection boxes more than 50 miles from a postal distribution center.

Election officials and senators had warned for months that the changes could delay postmarks enough to cause validly mailed, on-time ballots to be rejected -- a warning the new data bore out. Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read said 7,314 ballots that arrived during the state's grace period for its May 2026 primary were rejected as postmarked late, a 13% rejection rate, up from 9.5% two years earlier. In Washington's August 2026 primary, 20,267 ballots were rejected for late postmarks, up from 16,131 in 2024; in Stevens County the rejection rate quadrupled, and in Yakima County -- where mail is now routed roughly 200 miles to a Spokane processing center before returning -- nearly 4.4% of ballots cast were rejected. Both counties have reliably voted Republican, prompting Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington to note the irony that the changes appear to be falling hardest on some of President Trump's most reliable supporters. In a written statement, the Postal Service acknowledged that its mail-transport changes could result in postmarking delays and said its consistent advice to mail voters is to mail their ballots at least a week early.