Local Democratic officials Thursday said their phones were lighting up from voters reporting that clerks at several Lancaster County post offices were saying their mail-in ballots needed additional postage because they were too heavy for basic first-class letter postage.
Vicki Deal of Manor Township was among those voters. Deal told LNP | LancasterOnline she went to the Millersville post office Thursday morning to mail her and her husband’s municipal election ballots to the county elections office.
A clerk at the counter told her it was a good thing she stopped by in person. “‘We’re glad you came in because you don’t have enough postage on your ballots,’ ” Deal said the clerk told her.
Deal said she paid for an extra 29-cent stamp for each ballot, which covers an additional ounce.
The clerk told Deal he was not sure yet what to do about ballots other voters had simply dropped in the mail with just one first-class stamp, which covers a 1-ounce letter.
Michael Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for the Lancaster County commissioners office, said most precincts in the county this election season have two-page ballots, which exceed 1 ounce when mailed.
“The return envelope, secrecy envelope and two ballot sheets (there are seven precincts in the county with only one sheet) comes out to 1.1 ounces, which per the USPS current rate is … $1.03 in postage to return,” Fitzpatrick said. “However, the USPS is required to return ballots to the elections office regardless of the amount of postage. Voters can simply drop their envelope in the bin or say they are mailing back their ballot, and the post office should accept it. If voters experience any issues with this, they can contact our office for assistance.”
County officials spoke with the Lancaster County postmaster about the matter, “and specifically in Millersville as well, and they confirmed they will be accepting ballots regardless,” Fitzpatrick said.
A regional USPS spokesman did not respond Thursday to questions about the reports from county voters.
Kim Miller, a Pennsylvania-based officer for the American Postal Workers Union, said she contacted the postmaster for the Lancaster area a little after 10 a.m., and the postmaster was aware of the issue through a customer complaint, and the issue had been addressed.
“That might’ve been an inexperienced clerk at the window, but it has been corrected,” Miller said.
Philadelphia and Delaware are among the counties in Pennsylvania that use pre-paid postage for their mail-in ballots, while Lancaster and others require voters to cover the cost. When ballots arrive at an elections office with insufficient postage, the Postal Service later contacts the county board of elections to collect unpaid postage after ballots are delivered, according to the USPS website.
According to state mail-in ballot data, Lancaster County sent 30,267 mail-in ballots through the mail Friday. With the Columbus Day holiday, many of those ballots started to arrive at homes Tuesday.
By Thursday afternoon, Tom O’Brien, chair of the Lancaster County Democrats, said party headquarters had heard from voters who said they experienced the same thing at a number of post offices throughout the county.
Kirk Radanovic, chairman of the Lancaster County Republican committee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
READ: Lancaster County mail-in ballots to start arriving this week. Are they late?
USPS election preparation
In the lead-up to recent even-year federal elections, the Postal Service announced a campaign of taking “extraordinary measures” to prepare and train USPS workers on how to handle a flurry of mail ballots, process them correctly and deliver them on time to election offices.
It’s not clear what, if any, measures the USPS takes in odd-number years, when Pennsylvania sees lower turnout at elections for municipal races.
Through a public records request, LNP | LancasterOnline inspected and recorded the names of 268 voters whose mail-in ballots in the 2023 general municipal election were not counted because they were delayed in the mail.
All of them were postmarked in Harrisburg on Oct. 30, but were not delivered to election officials until Nov. 13, a week after Election Day.
USPS officials said after the incident they launched an investigation into the matter and failed to come up with any answers. But they assured Lancaster County voters the Postal Service would be ready for the 2024 presidential election.
