A spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service says they are working with mail processing centers in Iowa to make sure last-minute absentee ballots are properly postmarked. Ballots that arrive after Election Day must have a postmark from on or before November fifth to be counted and must arrive by November 13 at noon.
Not all mail is normally postmarked and Postal Service regional spokesman, Richard Watkins, says they’re giving local post offices this advice. He says if there are any ballots that are being returned that don’t have postmarks in the mail system they are instructed to apply a hand postmark known as a round stamp.
Watkins says they haven’t heard any concerns from the local offices. “So far things have been going very,very well as we ramp up, as we gear up less than a week from the election, we want to make sure all of our employees and all of our plants and post offices around the state are aware of the importance of making sure those postmarks are applied,” Watkins says.
Ballots that arrive on or before Election Day do not require a postmark. Iowa’s Commissioner of Elections has said it would be a record year for early voting, with most of the ballots arriving by mail.