KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.
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Pat Pelot first voted in the 1940s and the 96-year-old has no plans to stop voting. For November’s general election, Pelot will use a mail-in ballot.
“When that ballot comes in, it’s so much more comfortable sitting down at the desk, filling it out, and sending it out,” she explained.
Most of Pelot’s neighbors at Olathe-based Aberdeen Village rely on mail-in ballots.
This month, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab announced elections offices couldn’t include roughly 1,000 mail-in ballots in the primary election tabulation because they arrived too late or did not have a postmark.
Kansas law allows election offices to receive mail-in ballots three days after election day so long as they have a postmark on or before election day.
Schwab sent a letter to the US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy asking for an explanation, and for assurances mail-in ballots would arrive on time in November.
DeJoy announced online Thursday there would be a “heroic” effort to ensure mail-in ballots make it to election office on time. He recommends voters place their ballots in the mail seven days before they’re due.
Voters can hand their mail-in ballots to USPS employees instead of dropping them in mailboxes and ask the employee to postmark the ballot at that moment.
Wyandotte County Election Commissioner Michael Abbott said there are other options for mail-in voters to bypass the post office.
Voters in Kansas can return mail-in ballots at drop boxes operated by the election office, at advance polling locations, and at polls on election day. None of these options require a postmark from the postal service.
“Instead of putting it in the mailbox, I bring it around the corner to the county building and I give it to someone there,” explained Gloria Giunta, an Aberdeen resident who’s been voting by mail for six years.
Wyandotte County will begin sending mail-in ballots to voters on October 16. Abbott is optimistic Schwab’s letter to USPS will make a difference.
“We’re very appreciative, as election officials, he did that and hopefully it makes some change going into the general election,” Abbott said.
Voters like Heide Poole expect their vote to count in November. The 80-year-old plans to vote for the first time this election - and will do so with a mail-in ballot.
“I’ll fill out the papers and send them in so my voice gets counted. Maybe I’ll be that one voice that matters,” Poole said.
For more information about your voter status in Kansas, visit the state’s Voter View website.
