Hey, Arizona!

In recent days, I’ve been tracking a saga around undelivered mail ballots in Navajo County.

It kicked off earlier this month, when Recorder David Marshall told county supervisors during a public meeting that his office was experiencing “an issue” with the U.S. Postal Service.

“We have received over 900 returned ballots — over 900,” said Marshall, who was recently appointed to his post. “Why? Don’t know.”

Later, the number of undelivered ballots in the county, located in the northeastern quadrant of the state, rose to more than 1,300 — and the news spread like wildfire. Journalists began covering the story. Officials fielded questions from concerned constituents. President Donald Trump was personally alerted to the situation.

There’s only one problem — it’s not clear that any of this is out of the ordinary.

It’s not unusual for ballots to be returned as undeliverable. The Postal Service will return ballots to election officials if the voter’s address is incorrect or if a voter has a forwarding address on file (since ballots legally can’t be forwarded).

Those 1,300 ballots represent about 3.2% of the ballots mailed out by the county in this year’s primary. According to data from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, that’s on the high end, but not unprecedented, for Navajo County. In recent general elections, the percentage of returned ballots has ranged from as high as 3.3% in 2018 to as low as 0.6% in 2020.

I couldn’t find data on how many ballots were returned as undeliverable in previous primary elections. But for its part, the Postal Service says it returned the ballots to the county “in accordance with proper protocol.” And there are certainly benign potential explanations for the high-ish return rate — including the earlier-than-usual primary, which hit in the dead of summer, when people tend to leave town for cooler temperatures.

Even Marshall doesn’t seem fully certain anything is actually wrong. In a statement, his office said it was working with the Postal Service to “identify any issues that may have occurred during the mailing process.”

Meanwhile, there are actual election snags afoot. Officials in Santa Cruz County, located at the southern end of the state, recently learned that 217 mail ballots intended for voters were mistakenly received at an Amazon Returns facility. The ballots were unopened and unused, and were ultimately returned to the county.

And back in Navajo, officials recently discovered 3,000 blank ballots from the 2024 general election misplaced at a county facility that regularly serves as a polling site. The ballots, found inside a storage tub in a closet, were unused and still packaged in shrink wrap.

Neither of those documented, confirmed events received much media coverage. But the undeliverable ballot story — or, maybe, nonstory — plays into broader fears around postal delays, attacks on voting by mail, and election legitimacy. So, it captured headlines, and it may end up falsely deepening election distrust.

I’ll keep you posted on how the situation turns out — and, depending on the outcome, perhaps write a longer version of this yarn.

Tell a friend to sign up here so they don’t miss it. And, let me know what I should look into next. You can reach me anytime at [email protected].

See you next edition!

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On the Lighter Side

A few weeks ago, Olive Garden relaunched its Never-Ending Pasta Pass for the first time in years.

You may be wondering why I’m telling you that.

Apparently, passholders are required to present valid photo ID upon ordering their endless pasta dishes. You see, the popular pasta pass isn’t open to all — only a limited number of customers who paid to snag one.

Some Republicans jumped on this fact and began drawing comparisons to our nation’s election system. As Rep. Eli Crane put it: “Olive Garden’s never-ending pasta pass is more secure than our federal elections. Make sense to anyone? Pass the SAVE America Act.”

Obviously, these two things are very different. The SAVE America Act would require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship, which is different from photo ID. In Arizona, voters are required to provide proof of citizenship to participate in state and local races, and they must show ID if they vote in person at the polls.

Also, voting is critical to our democracy. Never-ending pasta, while culturally important, is not. 🍝