Logan Post Office began delivering ballots to area homes last week officials believe they are well equipped to handle this year’s election ballots in a timely manner.
LOGAN – Mail-in ballots have been national talking points in politics as well as national news, but here in Logan Postmaster Katie Evertsen said the Logan Post Office is well equipped to handle this year’s election ballots and does not for foresee any problems or issues.
The ballots are being mailed out now and should be returned to the County before Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 3.
“People should be getting their ballots anytime now,” she said. “We started to receive the ballots last week and have been delivering them to homes across the Cache Valley.”
Every day more and more ballots are found in mailboxes across Cache Valley. As ballots are being mailed out to voters the Postal Service is working hard to make sure election mail arrives as it should in Utah and across the country.
“The county has been doing mail-in ballots since 2013 and we have the system down,” she said. “The ballots are out-sourced or printed and mailed from somewhere other than Cache Valley.”
Evertsen said the post office’s number one priority between now and election day is the secure and timely delivery of election mail.
“Every piece of mail is important to us. We treat them all the same,” she said. “We want to make sure every piece gets were it is supposed to be in a timely manner.”
The Postmaster said they want the public to know they are treating the ballots with extra care and so are post offices across the country.
“We have a process in place to receive and deliver this year’s ballots in time for people to vote,” she said. “There is a team from Washington, D.C. that checks on post offices across the country to make sure they are following the process.”
If you are voting by mail, then you should plan ahead and give yourself enough time to complete and return your ballot by the deadline.
“It is important to know that ballots mailed to the address they have on file,” Eversten said. “If you have moved, the ballot is going to the address where you lived when you filed.”
She touted the Salt Lake City mail processing plant as one of the best in the country. The post office has a system in place across the country and if mail is dumped there is a system to track it and find out who did it.
Zachary Laux, a regional spokesman for the post office, said they deliver a lot of mail and the additional volume of ballots should not create a problem for post offices or carriers.
“The U.S. Postal Service delivers 433 million pieces of mail a day,” Laux said. “Even if all Americans were to vote by mail this year, 330 million ballots over the course of the election period would be only three-quarters of what the Postal Service delivers in one single day.”
He said the USPS has more than enough capacity to handle all election mail this year.
“Our number one priority between now and the November election is the secure and timely delivery of Election Mail, and we’re proud to play such an important role in America’s electoral process.”