FRANKFORT, Ky. — Postcards have been arriving in Kentucky mailboxes this week urging voters to act early if they plan to vote by mail.
However, the information being sent out by the US Postal Service includes incorrect information and that’s frustrating elections officials. That's because they're already facing a tall order of informing the public on up-to-date voting information due to the pandemic.
The postcards claim voters have longer to request an absentee ballot than they actually do have.
Correct information voters should know:
- Kentucky’s deadline to request an absentee ballot is midnight, October 9th.
- Early in-person voting runs Mondays through Saturdays, October 13th through November 2nd.
- Election Day is November 3rd.
- Absentee ballots must be postmarked by November 3rd but must arrive in the mail to the county clerk’s office by Friday, November 6th if they are to be counted.
Elections officials urge voters to fill out and send back their ballots early. Doing so will allow county clerks to reach out to voters if there are issues with their ballots.
While some have seen these USPS postcards and questioned whether there was more afoot, Kentucky Board of Elections Executive Director Jared Dearing does agree.
“I don’t buy into the conspiracy theory”, Dearing insisted. “I think someone didn’t think it through well enough and, unfortunately, it’s elections and you have to think everything through as effectively as you possibly can. I think someone, unfortunately, sent this out with very good intentions but kind of failed when it came down to the actual doing of the thing.”
We reached out to the US Postal Service locally but did not hear back. Thursday the US Postmaster General commented that it was the USPS intention to educate the public on the election and that is their continued mission.
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