ST. LOUIS — With the Nov. 5 election just one week away, the U.S. Postal Service is urging voters who choose to vote by mail not to delay.
In the first three weeks of October, the Postal Service reported that 98.3% of ballots mailed from U.S. voters to election officials were delivered within three days, with the average ballot arriving within a day. However, USPS strongly urged voters to send back their mailed ballots at least a week before the local election authority needs to receive them to ensure they are counted.
That means Missouri vote-by-mail ballots should be sent out by Oct. 29 and ballots in Illinois should be mailed by Nov. 12.
Missouri
The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot was Oct. 16.
In Missouri, all completed absentee ballots must be received by the office of your local election authority by 7 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.
If you received a mailed ballot but wish to vote in person on Election Day instead, the Missouri Secretary of State Office recommends reaching out to your election authority for instructions on what to do with your absentee ballot.
Illinois
Any registered voter in Illinois can vote by mail without an excuse, and vote-by-mail ballots for the general election can be requested through Oct. 31.
Completed Illinois ballots must be postmarked on or before Nov. 5 and arrive at the office of your local election authority by Nov. 19 to be counted. Voters can also deposit ballots at a secure drop box location until polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day.
If you requested a vote-by-mail ballot in Illinois, you can still vote at the polls on Nov. 5 if you surrender your vote-by-mail ballot to election judges or a portion of the ballot for cancelation. If you fill out an affidavit saying you never received your vote-by-mail ballot or that you completed and returned the mailed ballot but it was never received by the election authority, you will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot.
You will not be eligible to vote provisionally in Illinois if you admit you received the mailed ballot but did not return it to the election authority. Voting systems will reject any mailed ballots received after voting in person, as only one vote per voter is allowed.
5 On Your Side will have complete election results on KSDK.com and the mobile app on Election Day. Watch live election coverage on the 5+ mobile app from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m.
