Archive links: https://web.archive.org/web/20251229233408/https://bsky.app/profile/goldengateblond.bsky.social/post/3mb5t23bf3k23 or https://archive.is/uvuWB
If you want to vote by mail please do so as soon as you can and consider dropping it off at the counter where they will postmark it right away.
Also if you live in a state where you’re allowed to photograph your ballot consider doing so to have proof you voted a certain way.
Note that as a counterpoint the federal register website claims they are just clarifying language to improve public understanding: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/08/12/2025-15266/postmarks-and-postal-possession
I didn’t check that document very closely yet.
I predict the regional processing centres in blue states will have technical issues for weeks before and after the voting period.
This is also making the mail less reliable. The mail is a vital piece of the functioning of the country but they want to privatize it
They just need to ruin fucking everything.
It’s the Republican way, destroy America.
That I’m okay with; death to america.
It’s that they’re killing the post office not the cops
They’d rather rule over the ashes than not at all.
They aren’t thinking that far ahead, but if they did; yes.
I had a whole comment that got eaten up in an error (and a Lemmy client that doesn’t fail gracefully, I really should be moving off of Sync). But maybe that’ll be an opportunity to give a more concise summary of what’s going on.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/08/12/2025-15266/postmarks-and-postal-possession
This USPS notice is basically correct. The meaning of postmarks isn’t changing: it’s a mark that definitely proves that mail was in the Postal Service’s possession on that date. The absence of a mark doesn’t mean the absence of possession, and the date of a mark does not foreclose the possibility that the mail was in the Postal Service’s possession on an earlier date.
It does note there are operational changes where they’re now taking fewer trips in certain low volume zip codes, and that expands the number of places where postmarks are being applied on the next USPS operational day: usually the next day, but a second day if the next day is Sunday or a holiday, or a third day when the next day is a Sunday and the day after that is a Monday holiday.
Someone mailing something may still request a same-day postmark from the postal facility they’re dropping it off at, but that’s not helpful if they’re already past business hours or using an unattended outgoing mail box.
Most importantly, though, it only has a small potential to affect voting.
- Most states require ballots to be received by election day, and postmark day doesn’t matter.
- Even in states that look to postmarks, they still have a deadline to be received by a particular grace period, so you’ll want to get the mail sent as early as possible anyway.
- The Supreme Court just heard a case, and will rule by June, on whether states are even allowed to follow the postmark date instead of the received by date.
- Election Day is on a Tuesday not near a holiday. So the operational changes will only add a single day to the postmark date, in the low population areas that don’t deal with a lot of mail, for people who don’t request a same day postmark from the post office.
Yeah, I saw this getting spread around and facepalmed, I’m a carrier and it’s basically not a change – just logistics changes that can have an impact +/- a day. When first class mail went off the next day standard a few years ago is when this really changed, and it was about business efficiency and prioritizing packages. I also facepalm when I see ballots in outgoing the day before an election, but we run those separate to the county seat or a closer hub office to get them delivered on time.
Any suggestions for a fellow Sync user who is also looking to move?
It’s not a secret. Just nobody in any leadership position seems willing/able to do anything about it
The funny thing is they think Democrats are more using the mailing system. I’m pretty sure it’s all of the older Republicans and Republicans in general that use the mail-in system far more. This is only going to hurt their base even more.
Election jurisdictions that accept ballots postmarked by Election Day but received after will face challenges, as the postmark date may reflect processing date rather than the date the ballot entered USPS possession.
They’ll just rely on delayed processing, or actively delay the processing.
Anything to reduce democracy.
Like dejoy would do something like that …. Oh wait. Yes. Yes he would do something like that to appease daddy Trump and president musk.
he got replaced by another DEJOY clone.
everyone here is talking about elections, I’m thinking about taxes and time-sensitive forms. Hell, the company I work at accepts time-sensitive forms, we’re now gonna have to discuss this in a meeting to see how we’re gonna handle forms that come by mail after our deadline.
Read through this:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/08/12/2025-15266/postmarks-and-postal-possession
Postmarks don’t end up on all mail, because certain types of mail do not require cancellation of a stamp.
When there is a postmark, that is proof that the postal service was in possession of that piece of mail on that day. It does not prove that date was the earliest that the item came into the possession of the Postal Service, and does not foreclose the possibility that the Postal Service was in possession on an earlier date.
For the big operational change being implemented, where zip codes more than 50 miles from a sorting facility get fewer trips and might not be sorted on the same day that the mailbox contents are retrieved, there will be a one-day delay on most days, a two-day delay on Saturdays or the day before a holiday (because they won’t postmark on Sundays or holidays), or a three-day delay on Saturdays before a Monday holiday (because the Sunday plus holiday represents two consecutive days they don’t sort mail).
One easy thing to implement, for anyone whose procedures depend on the postmark, is to just move the latest allowable postmark to be the next business day after the deadline, between 1-3 days. Another could be to inform customers that if they live in one of the affected zip codes, they need to affirmatively ask for a same-day postmark at the retail location where they’re dropping off the mail. That might require some additional driving to the actual post office instead of an unattended drop box, but in most places the latest pickup in a blue box is actually earlier than the time the nearest post office closes anyway.
And I will say that I’ve gamed the system before, where I bought a barcode based stamp just before midnight from an automated postal machine, because those aren’t postmarked at all, and most recipients incorrectly consider the purchase date on the stamp to be equivalent of the postmark date, so that I had a few extra hours to finalize an application past midnight that night.
Just like with Social Security numbers, where Social Security Administration had to tell everyone “wait this number wasn’t intended to be used in that way by others,” this seems to be the USPS pushing back against certain assumptions on postmark dates.
What’s the fee for late forms? Or, more likely, late payments? Another way to squeeze a few bucks from poor people?
I dunno, my company doesn’t handle money that way. The penalty for late forms is we don’t accept the form. Typically, that meant everything postmarked after the due date was not allowed, but we accepted anything postmarked before or on the date even if it arrived later. Now we might have to ask for some kinda proof of submission if the date stamp becomes unreliable.
They keep changing as many laws and regulations as possible so come next election, no poor person will be able to vote at all anymore. And if that isn’t enough to make them win, they will buy as many officials as possible to make sure the count is “right”. And if that isn’t enough they will contest every Democrat win in every state. I’m sure the list goes on.
If you want to vote by mail please do so as soon as you can and consider dropping it off at the counter where they will postmark it right away.
Even then you have to request it. The term you need to ask for is “hand canceling”. The USPS worker will take a handheld ink stamp and mark over the postage stamp with the received date. That letter is now “processed” as received by the post office.
They’ve cheated before, they’ll do it again. It’s like playing whack-a-mole trying to get around it.
Maybe the left should do some of this vote manipulation bullshit this election. Get a group and burn voting boxes in deep red areas like they did to us. Groups of armed antifa at every polling place in Texas.
You know. Democracy as these fucks see it.
If it even happened one time that one ballot box got burned even if it didn’t have any ballots in it Republicans would never let it go. The name of everyone who ever touched the fucking box would be turned into household names.
You can’t beat Republicans by doing the things they do. Democrats don’t like that, so you wind up driving them away at the same time you are empowering The shitheads.
You can’t beat Republicans by doing the things they do.
Can’t beat them by playing by the rules either, apparently. So what’s the end game?
Everyone with a higher than room temp IQ gets screwed. The low IQ folks do too, they just don’t realize it until it affects them directly. All while the Dems play like the old rules apply.
This is also going to wreak havoc with documents sent for any purpose that may be litigated, or legal in nature.
Yeah, but they never really care about consequences besides the one they’re aiming for.
The most short-sighted administration in American history.
The Blind Leading The Naked
i suspect the gop/TRUMP wants to use the courts to determine which and what gets thrown out, its going to be chaos.
If you don’t know when it is going to be stamped, then you cannot possibly plan accordingly. Trying to be early to get around the unreliable time frame isn’t planning accordingly, it is just guessing.
Especially when they’re sure to find ways to demolish post office processing times around election seasons specifically to kill mailed in ballots.
This isn’t relevant, even when we’ve been slammed local offices separate the ballots and bring them to a hub or county seat if it’s within a week of an election. Postal workers actually care about doing their jobs.
It isn’t relevant, yet, but we’re seeing changes in how these things are made to work that are decidedly deleterious to the reliability of mail in voting, and you’re deluded if you think they’re going to stop now. Even questions of legality are at best peripheral to this administration, more interference WILL be coming, and it won’t be something that Postal workers simply caring about their jobs will be able to resolve.
people should be filing thier taxes electronically , in this case.
oh don’t get me started. they just took away freefile.
