The Spokane County elections office sent out overseas ballots for the November general election late last week. Service members and others who vote in Spokane’s elections have until November 5 to return them.
There’s one new development this year that could make returning those ballots a challenge.
If an American mails a letter to, say, England, international treaties allow you put an American stamp on it and you know it will be delivered to the intended destination. Same thing for an English citizen or a Pole or anyone else sending something to the States.
In October, the U.S. began to withdraw from what’s known as the Universal Postal Union because it felt China and other countries were getting sweetheart deals on their postal rates.
This week, a body that oversees issues like this will decide whether the U.S. withdrawal from the postal union will continue.
County Auditor Vicky Dalton says that has led to some uncertainty about the ballots sent last week to Americans overseas.
“We are unsure how our voters can return their ballots to us for this general election. So it will be country by country as to if it will work with that postage from that country coming in to the U.S. or not," Dalton said.
She hopes to learn by the end of the week how this negotiation will turn out and how that will affect ballots overseas.