Hi, folks.

At a Wisconsin Elections Commission meeting last week, commissioners discussed whether to tell voters to mail in their ballot at least 10 days before Election Day.

But it isn’t so simple, given the recent history of extended mail delays. Officials after the April election reported receiving ballots postmarked two weeks ahead of Election Day but not delivered until after it, meaning they didn’t count.

“I’m concerned about us just saying 10 days is enough,” Democratic commissioner Mark Thomsen said about the proposed timeline.

Local clerks around the state feel similarly. In a recent survey, two-thirds of Wisconsin election officials said they observed problems with absentee ballot mail delivery. About one-third of officials said voters had complained to them about mail delays.

Nearly 40% said that mail performance in the April election was somewhat or much worse than mail performance in past elections.

Election officials are limited in how they can respond to mail delays, especially given that Wisconsin has no grace period for ballots that arrive after Election Day, even if they’re postmarked ahead of time.

Many are contacting their postmaster to better coordinate their Election Day plans. Others are encouraging voters not to use the mail at all.

“Our secure ballot drop boxes open three weeks ahead of the August election and we emphasize this is a convenient and far faster option than returning an absentee ballot via USPS,” Madison Clerk Lydia McComas told Votebeat in a statement.

To be sure, there’s a large (and not new) discrepancy between how USPS and election officials feel about mail performance. To USPS, a 98% — or even 99% — on-time rate for mail ballots is a job well done. But to election officials, that missing 1% or 2% can amount to hundreds of late ballots.

In the upcoming election, I’ll be keeping a close eye on whether there’s a continuation of the mail delays that shocked election officials in April.

Let me know what questions you have about elections in Wisconsin. You can reach me at [email protected] or by replying to this email.

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