Heavier mail-in ballots raise postage questions in Tarrant County

Linda Potts, who has mailed in her ballot in Tarrant County for nearly a decade, said she discovered an issue unexpectedly.

TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — As voters prepare to cast their ballots in the upcoming election, a longtime Tarrant County voter is raising concerns about a potential postage issue that could affect mail-in ballots.

Linda Potts, who has mailed in her ballot in Tarrant County for nearly a decade, said she discovered the issue unexpectedly when she visited the post office to have her ballot manually postmarked.

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“There’s only place stamp here, there’s one square,” Potts said, describing the space provided for postage on her ballot envelope.

This year, Potts said, the ballot is two pages instead of one, making the completed ballot heavier. When she took it to the post office, she was told that a single stamp would not cover the postage and that an additional 29 cents would be required.

“The problem is, if I had not walked my mail-in ballot into the post office to have a manual postmark put on it, I would not have known that it’s going to take 29 more cents postage to get it to go through the post office,” Potts said.

Potts questioned how voters would know whether their ballots had sufficient postage if they placed them in their home mailboxes for pickup or dropped them into a collection box without first visiting a postal employee.

“If I put my ballot out in my mailbox to be picked up, or I had dropped it in the drop box out in front of the post office, what happens to all those ballots?” she asked.

Her concerns come as Tarrant County faces scrutiny over changes to polling locations during this election cycle, including the reported loss of more than 90 polling locations.

The postage question prompted an inquiry to Tarrant County election officials about what happens when a completed mail-in ballot enters the postal system without sufficient postage.

In a response to the inquiry, election officials pointed to the U.S. Postal Service’s election mail guidance, which states that completed absentee voting materials, including mail-in ballots, should not be delayed because of insufficient or unpaid postage.

USPS’ guidance further explains that it works with state and local election officials on mailing requirements, including postage payments. If a ballot enters the mail stream without the proper postage, USPS says it will deliver the ballot and subsequently attempt to collect the remaining postage from the appropriate election authority.

Tarrant County election officials explained the county would pay the outstanding postage in these circumstances.

The central question is whether voters can be confident their ballots will reach election officials, even when they don’t realize additional postage is required. According to USPS’ stated policy and Tarrant County Elections’ response, insufficient postage alone should not delay delivery of completed mail-in ballots, and the county would cover the remaining cost.