This year has seen unprecedented challenges to voting. There are two main prongs to the effort to suppress the vote, which are the Trump Administration's direct actions, and the actions of the United States Postal Service. With the situation so fluid, we will keep this page updated through the midterms and highlight what is happening and what actions we as voters can take.
Delayed Postmarks
The USPS announced a policy change regarding postmarks last year. Now postmarks are applied reflecting the date that an individual piece of mail is first handled by a sorting machine, not the date that the mail is received. During the primary, this delay in postmarking appears to be why over 20,000 Washington ballots were marked as late and uncounted, despite being delivered on time.
Washington's drop boxes do not use the USPS and ballots returned through them are not subject to postmarking delays. If you must use the USPS to return your ballot, vote very early and get it in the mail right away.
National Voter Registration Lists
In August, USPS published a new rule that implemented the president's demand that states must register every voter eligible for vote-by-mail with USPS. USPS was tasked with collecting these names and compiling them into state-specific lists, as well as other minor changes to ballot formatting.
Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown co-led a coalition of 25 states in a lawsuit that challenged this rule. The United States Supreme Court refused to overturn a lower court's injunction against the new rule. Voters in Washington should receive their ballots correctly and promptly. If you do not receive your ballot, you can print out and vote a replacement ballot or visit an in-person polling location or election office and vote a new ballot.
Voter Intimidation
It appears that the Department of Homeland Security is intending to station ICE agents at some polling locations, using a federal law that allows for armed men at polling stations if and only if they are necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States. This will, if it happens, have a chilling effect on voter turnout. Additionally, there is some concern that citizens may choose to engage in voter intimidation, particularly at drop box sites.
A coalition of civil rights groups and unions (AFT among them) have filed suit challenging this policy. The suit was filed on September 18th; no decision has been made as yet.
If you experience or witness voter intimidation, report it immediately. Some reporting options include:
- Poll workers at an in-person voting location
- Your local election office
- 911 if you are concerned that violence may happen
- 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) or info@866ourvote.org
- Spanish/English: 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682)
- Asian Languages/English: 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683)
- Arabic/English: 844-YALLA-US (844-925-5287)
Contact us at aftwashington@aftwa.org if you are aware of other interference efforts.