“It’s going to be terrible on our elections,” interim registrar Cari-Ann Burgess said of plan to move Reno mail-processing operations to California
By Mark Robison, Reno Gazette Journal, February 23, 2024
Washoe County’s registrar of voters will recommend against mailing ballots in future general elections if changes to Reno’s Vassar Street post office move forward as expected.
The plan – which is not final but is considered likely – would move mail-sorting operations from Reno to Sacramento. All Reno mail would first go to California, where it would get a Reno postmark and date stamp before coming back over the Sierra.
“It’s going to be terrible on our elections,” interim registrar Cari-Ann Burgess told the RGJ.
Voters will need to mail ballots at least seven days early to ensure they’re received by deadline, Burgess said. If snow is forecast, Burgess recommends hand-delivering ballots.
“To be honest with you, I wouldn’t even put it in the mail,” she said of a November election ballot. “I would drop it off at one of our vote centers.”
U.S. Postal Service spokesperson Rod Spurgeon agreed with Burgess about allowing seven days.
“As a common-sense measure, you should mail your completed ballot … at least one week before the deadline by which (it) must be received by your local election official,” he said.
Mail concerns would not have loomed so large when only a tiny percentage of Nevadans voted by mail. But in 2021, the Legislature approved sending mail-in ballots to all active voters unless they opt out.
In 2022, half of Nevada voters chose to mail their ballots over voting in-person on a machine. During this year’s Nevada Presidential Preference Primary, 78% of those who participated mailed in their ballots.
How long for a Washoe County mail-in ballot to be delivered?
A ballot must be postmarked by Election Day and received by the following Saturday, four days later. After that, it’s too late to count, according to Nevada law.
Spurgeon said USPS’s “service standard” for local mail is two-day delivery. If that could be counted on, it would be plenty of time for a ballot postmarked on Election Day to be received by Washoe County.
Burgess doesn’t believe it.
She has talked with USPS employees who told her “our mail does not get processed that fast,” she said.
Washoe County date-stamps all ballots when received.
“Some of them took four to five days to get to us and that’s with them being processed here in Reno,” she said of ballots mailed in this month’s presidential preference primary.
Add a journey to Sacramento, and Burgess recommends allowing a full week to make sure the ballot is delivered in time.
If snow over the Sierra is in the forecast, Burgess recommends skipping the mail altogether and using drop boxes.
During the two weeks of early voting before the primary and general election, 25 locations will have drop boxes for paper ballots. Voting machines will also be available for those who prefer to vote electronically.
On the primary and general election days – June 11 and Nov. 5 – ballots can be dropped off at 45 to 50 voting locations.
“I want to make sure people can vote,” Burgess said. “Do not stick it in the mail if you don’t have to.”
USPS perspective on Washoe County mail-in ballots
Spurgeon said election delivery will not be affected by a switch in processing to Sacramento.
“The review process will not impact our ability to effectively and securely process the nation’s election mail, including ballots, in a timely manner consistent with our service standards and recommended ballot mail mailing deadlines,” he said.
He said that USPS’ nationwide upgrade of services, which might include the switch for Reno mail to Sacramento, will result in improved delivery performance for years to come for its customers, “including election officials and voters.”
Additional election postal concerns
The expected move to Sacramento is not Burgess’ only worry about how USPS handles mail-in ballots.
“One of the issues that we have had is that they only have one person who can process our type of election mail,” she said. “Literally one person.”
If that person can’t be at work for whatever reason, it could delay ballot delivery.
“I’m talking to the Secretary of State about it,” Burgess said of Cisco Aguilar’s office. “They’re talking to the leadership of the USPS. We can’t wait a couple of days to get a ballot because somebody is out sick.”
Burgess has not been quiet about her mail-delivery concerns. In addition to meeting with the Secretary of State’s office, she’s talked to Nevada’s congressional leaders and representatives from the state’s two main political parties.
“I’ve been raising a little bit of a stink about this,” she said of the plan to move mail processing from Reno to Sacramento. “Not only does it affect voting, but it also affects our entire community and that’s not good for anybody.”