EAST PEORIA, Ill. – County clerks across Illinois say recent changes by the United States Postal Service could have negative effects on the March primary election.
Statewide county clerks are meeting in East Peoria this week for a conference, and spoke out on Thursday against the changes made by USPS that went into effect at the start of the year.
Changes that went into effect include having postmark dates that may not match when mail is received at a post office, reduced distribution center trips, and not making vote by mail ballots a specialized priority.
In Illinois, a vote by mail ballot is counted if it’s postmarked on or before Election Day.
Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman led the group speaking out about the changes. He says the changes will now cause a vote-by-mail ballot submitted in the mail on Election Day to be postmarked, at minimum, the day after. In addition, Ackerman says there’s uncertainty on when a ballot will move through a distribution center.
Ackerman says the changes could have an effect on who wins an election.
“What’s going to come of a race that ends up being one vote, and they ask a voter ‘I made sure my vote was in, why did you reject my vote?’” Ackerman said. “It’s throwing the weight back on us, and I do think that’s unfair.”
Ackerman says that could lead to lawsuits and extra recounts if ballots that were submitted are alleged to have not been counted.
Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega says the changes will have a detrimental impact on trust.
“Not only our relationship, but the trust that the voters have in our offices, it is now on us to continuingly refocus the voter’s behavior, as our voters continuously rely on the postal service,” Vega.
Ackerman says he and other county clerks across the state are planning to recommend that people submit their mail-in ballots to the post office no later than one week before Election Day, to ensure as best as possible that it gets counted. He says vote-by-mail packages will have an index card to urge voters to submit their ballots for the March primary as soon as possible.
Ackerman adds that there have been discussions with local Congressmen about the changes made by the post office. He says a delegation went to Washington, D.C. in October to address the concerns. Ackerman says while there is time for Congress to implement changes before the March primary, there is not a lot of time to do so.
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