The Redbud County Board of Elections voted 4-1 Tuesday to make two changes to how mailed ballots come back: it moved the receipt deadline up by two weeks, and it extended the hours on the county's in-person return options. Both take effect for the November general election.
The first change rewrites the postmark rule. Under the old rule, a ballot postmarked by Election Day and received within ten days still counted. Starting this fall, mailed ballots must physically arrive at the county elections office by 5 p.m. the Friday before Election Day, regardless of postmark.
Board members cited a backlog at the regional postal sorting facility that delayed several thousand ballots past the old ten-day window in the last general election, all of which were disqualified. “We were throwing out ballots from people who did everything we told them to do,” said Harlan Beecroft, the county's elections director. “The postmark rule stopped protecting voters a while ago.”
The second change extends return hours. All 14 of the county's drop boxes will stay open two hours later each day during the final week before the deadline, and the three sites that offer curbside return for voters with mobility needs will keep the same extended schedule. Beecroft said the county is still telling anyone voting by mail to send the ballot back at least two weeks before Election Day.