Emergency Ballot Rule Will Have Little Effect on Chelan County

A new emergency rule was issued Wednesday requiring that county officials use first-class mail at least 15 days before Election Day when sending ballots to voters.

Chelan County Auditor Skip Moore said the rule will have little to no effect in the county, as although they will mail over 47,000 ballots 18 or 19 days prior to the election at a non-profit rate, they've always sent ballots after that point first class.

"We've got a good relationship with our postal folks. Everything has worked well." explained Moore, "The extension on the 15-day First Class postage, that is something that we've always done in Chelan County, so that doesn't change our processes at all, and I don't know if the voters will see a difference."

Moore suggests that if someone does not have their ballot back in the postal stream by the Saturday prior to the election, they either need to have it hand counted when they take it into the post office, or drop it off at a drop box.

For more information, contact your county's Elections Department.