This story was updated to include comments from the most recent conversation between Kansas and USPS officials.

Kansans should think twice before mailing their ballots this election, the state’s top election official said.  

The warning comes after Scott Schwab, the secretary of state, said the U.S. Postal Service likely won’t address problems that led to nearly 1,000 ballots — about 2% of mail votes — being thrown out during the primary election. 

Now, less than a week before advance ballots are sent out, Schwab’s office is telling voters to avoid the mail because the Postal Service has not done enough to address issues in August. 

“His message is for Kansans to make a plan and return their ballot to their county election office or county-run drop box to avoid any issues or postal delays that would cause their vote to go uncounted,” said agency spokesperson John Milburn. 

Almost 1,000 primary ballots thrown out 

Schwab first complained to the Postal Service in early September. A Sept. 9 letter said ballots were missing postmarks and were being delivered late. The letter said ballots that were mailed on time took so long to be delivered that they couldn’t be counted. 

Kansas law requires all ballots to arrive three days after Election Day with a postmark on or before Election Day. The USPS’ failures, Schwab said, disenfranchised around 1,000 Kansas voters. 

The Postal Service replied to the letter and said it didn’t even know about the issues with postmarked ballots. Schwab then sent another letter to the USPS to again voice his displeasure. 

Schwab has since spoken with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and said it was a productive conversation.

The USPS investigating issues 

The Postal Service asked for a copy of problematic ballots to further investigate issues with mail. But the USPS didn’t comment on any tangible changes it made in response to Schwab’s concerns. 

A press release from the secretary of state’s office said the USPS has acknowledged its mistakes in the primary election.

“As stated previously,” Mark Inglett, strategic communications manager at the Postal Service, said over email, “we have been in close and repeated communication with Secretary Schwab and other Kansas election officials throughout the year to resolve their concerns and specifically, to review our policy on postmarks.” 

The post office doesn’t postmark every piece of mail. Postmarking or canceling mail is done to prevent mail from being reused. Inglett said the Postal Service tells employees it needs to postmark every ballot, but “such practice does deviate from normal procedures.”

Voters can guarantee a postmark on their ballot if they visit a Postal Service retail center and request one from an employee when they drop off their ballot. 

Best mail ballot practices 

Whitney Tempel, a spokesperson for Schwab’s office, said that “he is not confident this issue will be fixed before the general election.”

Inglett said the USPS beefs up services around the elections. 

Starting Oct. 21: 

• Post office locations can create drive-through ballot drop-off options and specific lines for ballot postmarking. 
• USPS staff will make additional deliveries and mail collections. That includes early collections on Nov. 2, Nov. 4 and Nov. 5. Mail carriers will make special runs to election boards on those three dates and the last day ballots are accepted. 
• Express mail is available to quickly deliver ballots that are mailed close to Election Day. 
• Facilities will set up special processes to speed up delivery to election boards. 

The USPS has mail ballot recommendations, including mailing any ballots at least one week before the election. 

The Postal Service delivers around 433 million pieces of mail per day. About 0.1% of that is mail ballots. 

“Voters should know that the Postal Service has more than enough capacity to handle all election mail in 2024,” Inglett said.