Your mail-in ballot could get thrown out on a technicality

MS NOW -   If you plan to vote by mail, you should plan to get your ballot in even earlier than usual.

That’s because a recent U.S. Postal Service policy change that affects how and when postmarks are applied could lead to some ballots being thrown out even if they were mailed on time.

To the extent that any of us thinks about postmarks — which is probably not much — we probably picture a postal clerk at a counter tapping that round rubber stamp on the upper-right corner of an envelope.

But these days, about the only people who get their mail postmarked by hand are couples sending out fancy wedding invitations. Most mail is postmarked by machine as it’s processed.

A recent Postal Service policy change that took effect this week ended the seven-decade policy of postmarks reflecting when an item is considered mailed. Now, the postmark could mean not when the Postal Service first took possession of an item but the day that that piece of mail was first received at a processing facility.

That means if you drop your ballot in a blue USPS box on Election Day — or your tax return on April 15, for that matter — it may get a postmark of the next day.