KGW Oregon: If you drop a letter in the mail today, will it be postmarked today?
KGW put the U.S. Postal Service to the test, mailing 100 letters from dozens of locations across Oregon on the same day.
Only 14 of the 100 letters received a same-day postmark. Another 85 were postmarked one or two days later. One envelope arrived without a postmark at all.
The findings raise concerns for Oregon voters who wait until Election Day to mail their ballots. Under state law, ballots must be postmarked no later than Election Day to qualify for the state’s seven-day grace period. That means a ballot dropped in the mail on Election Day could be rejected if it doesn’t receive a postmark until the following day.