That’s actually coming from state and county elections officials.
Statewide, late postmark rejections rose 32% this August compared with the 2024 primary, according to Secretary of State data. In 19 of Washington’s 39 counties, the late-postmark rejection rate more than doubled year over year, and in two counties it more than quadrupled.
Mason County saw the biggest jump: compared with the 2024 primary, the late postmark rejection rate rose 329.7%. That’s followed by Stevens County (303.7%), Yakima County (268.5%), Okanogan County (263.5%) and Franklin County (206%).
These counties share a common thread: they’re rural, backed Trump in 2024, and several have sizable Latino or Native American populations that are already more vulnerable to mail-service gaps. Hispanic residents make up 52.4% of the population In Yakima County and 21% in Okanogan County per Census Bureau estimates. Okanogan County includes portions of the Colville Reservation and has an American Indian population of 8.3%.
The ballot rejections come after new federal rules and cost-cutting initiatives consolidated USPS mail processing into regional hubs. Under the change, mail from post offices more than 50 miles from a distribution center is now trucked to that hub once a day instead of twice, meaning ballots can sit for a day or more before they’re postmarked.
In a field test, Snohomish County officials discovered that Priority Mail clearly marked as ballots could take as long as 20 days to arrive.