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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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A map shows that several Washington counties that backed President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election have seen the biggest surge in the rate of ballots being rejected for late postmarks, fueling concerns that voters will face being disenfranchised in November’s crucial midterm elections.
A snapshot report released by Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, said data from Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’ office showed that late-postmark rejection rates have more than doubled in 19 counties compared to the 2024 primaries, including in states that backed Trump over former Democratic vice president Kamala Harris in the last presidential election.
It comes as changes in USPS policies have raised concerns about voting by mail, particularly in the states where the method is most popular. Trump, a Republican, has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting and claimed that it leads to fraud despite evidence to the contrary and his own repeated use of the method to vote.
Other states have also reported an increase in ballots being rejected for late postmarks. Oregon officials announced on Tuesday that 7,314 ballots that arrived in the mail during the state’s seven-day grace period for this year’s May primary were not counted because they were postmarked after Election Day. That meant a rejection rate of 13 percent in this year’s primary, up from 9.5 percent in the 2024 primary.
Where Did Rejection Rates Rise the Most?
The report said that rate of ballots rejected for late postmarks increased by 32 percent in Washington state’s August primary compared to the 2024 primary.
According to the data, the five counties that saw the biggest surge in the late-postmark rejection rates between the 2024 and 2026 primaries all backed Trump in 2024.
Mason County recorded a 329.7 percent increase, followed by Stevens County with 303.7 percent, Yakima County with 268.5 percent, Okanogan County with 263.5 percent and Franklin County at 206 percent.
But while the biggest surges were concentrated in Republican-leaning counties, some counties that were won by Harris also saw a substantial increase in the rate of ballots discounted for late postmarks.
Clallam County saw a 199 percent increase in ballots rejected for late postmarks between the 2024 and 2026 primaries, while Whitman County saw a 133.2 percent increase. Snohomish County, which also backed Harris, saw an increase of 66.9 percent.
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Rise in Rejection Rates Attributed to USPS Rules
At a news conference earlier in September, Cantwell attributed the increase in ballot rejection rates to changes in USPS policies and said they have led to significant voter disenfranchisement in her state, particularly in rural areas.
She also noted that Trump may be disenfranchising some of his own supporters.
"I find a little bit of irony here that the president may be disenfranchising his most stable voters in rural communities by taking the vote away," she said.
In December, USPS finalized a rule clarifying that postmarks don’t necessarily reflect the date the agency first took possession of a piece of mail, but the day it was handled in one of its processing centers. That raised questions about mail-in ballots, which in some states depend on a postmark date to determine if a vote counts. If a ballot is dropped into a mailbox on Election Day but not processed by a sorting machine until later, the postmark could indicate a date after the legal deadline.
USPS also implemented a new policy last year that mail will only be transported once a day, rather than twice, from post offices or collection boxes that are more than 50 miles from a postal distribution center.
In a statement provided to Newsweek, USPS acknowledged that changes in how it transports mail could result in postmarking delays.
Anyone who wants to ensure their ballots are postmarked on time can go into a post office and ask for it to be stamped manually for free, it said.
"There are any number of factors that may impact the timeliness of a returned ballot. As such, our consistent message to voters who choose to vote by mail is to mail early," the statement said.
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Cantwell Calls for Senate Hearing
Cantwell urged her colleagues in the Senate to hold hearings on the issue.
"I'm calling on my colleagues in the United States Senate to do their oversight job and hold hearings as why the president of the United States and the United States Postal Service is disenfranchising voters across the United States with policies that are leaving them with a ballot that was cast but never counted," Cantwell said.
She added: "We're just 62 days away from a pivotal midterm election. And our report shows some troubling trends. Ballots that voters believed they had mailed in time were rejected because they lacked a timely verifiable postmark or arrived too late to be counted."
Cantwell explained that the issue is worse in rural counties where voters may not be able to easily reach ballot drop boxes.
"If you are now casting your ballot, driving to that post office, who's not stamping your ballot as received and stamped that day? That's what Washingtonians need to know: the post office is taking your ballot as a piece of mail, but not stamping it that day."
That’s important, she said, because almost a third of voters "wait until the last 48 hours to vote."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and Robert Greenall
Update, 09/11/2026 11:36 a.m. ET: this article was updated with comment from USPS.
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