A new U.S. Postal Service rule on postmarks could impact rural voters in Montana and across the country. Advocates for Native communities are particularly concerned.
Instead of postmarking mail the day it's received by local post offices, the postmark will now reflect the date it reaches a regional processing facility.
Keaton Sunchild, government and political relations director for Western Native Voice, a Montana nonprofit that addresses issues affecting Indigenous people, said it could now take another day or two to process mail-in ballots.
"Every vote counts," he said, "and if we are all of a sudden changing the rules and changing the goalposts mid-go, that just leads to a little bit of confusion and potentially a lot of missed votes."
The Postal Service says it's doing this to cut costs and improve efficiency, as part of reforms that started in 2021.
In Montana, absentee ballots must be received by the county election office by 8 p.m. on Election Day. Sunchild said Native American voters rely on mail-in voting because many live in rural locations. He added that voting in person can mean traveling long distances and taking time off work to vote.
"We're already just trying to play catch-up, especially in Indian Country, from just getting the right to vote in the last 50 years or so," he said. "So it's just another step in what seems like a blatant disenfranchisement plan."
Sunchild said his organization will communicate early and often with voters about the change ahead of this year's midterm election. He encouraged voters to check with their county election offices for information and to return ballots as soon as possible.
"If you're going to turn in your family's ballot, see if anybody else in your neighborhood or your community or friend group also wants you to drop their ballots off," he said. "Maybe so they don't even have to worry about mailing them. They know that they've been dropped off at the county, in person."
