Heeding the Postal Service’s warning of allowing a week for your mail-in ballot to be delivered to an election office, it is now probably best if you didn’t mail it.

Some states allow for ballots that are postmarked by November 3 to still be counted, however, the cutoffs for when mail-in ballots can be counted varies by state and some extensions are currently being contested in the Supreme Court.

We wouldn’t want your vote to get lost in the shuffle of mail or hang in the balance of legal proceedings. This warning is especially relevant as mail-in voting has exponentially risen in 2020 thanks in part to the coronavirus pandemic. More mail-in voting means more pieces of mail for USPS to sort through and deliver before ballot deadlines pass.

Safe alternatives you can take to still get your vote cast are to use official drop boxes. Check your local government website for specific locations of official drop boxes.

You can also utilize early voting locations to cast your ballot. If possible, voting on Election Day, this coming Tuesday (November 3) is also an alternative to mailing in a ballot.

Elections officials across the country are urging people to get their ballots in, but not by mail at this point. Kathy Boockvar, secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania told CNN, “I don’t want anybody to lose their opportunity to vote, so I want every voter who has the ability to drop it off in person.”

Pennsylvania is one of the states with an extended mail-in ballot deadline, but the extension has been contended in courts for months. You can check for your state’s deadlines for mail-in ballots here.

According to a report by CNN, the USPS created an election task force to handle mail-in ballots which meets daily. Managers have been instructed to expedite the delivery and postmark of ballots up until November 24. Post offices are also reportedly making multiple trips to election offices daily to get the ballots in.

If you have mailed in your ballot, make sure you check that it has been processed and counted. You can check here to track your ballot.

Photo: Getty Images

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