Recent postal service changes could disrupt mail-in voting, county
clerks warn
[January 16, 2026]
By Jenna Schweikert and Nikoel Hytrek
PEORIA — New postal service changes to postmarking and transportation
rules could disrupt mail-in voting in the 2026 election, Illinois county
clerks warn.
Ahead of the March primary election, county clerks are telling voters
not to rely on past processes and to mail their ballots as early as
possible, no later than one week before Election Day.
Clerks from around the state discussed how to educate voters at the
annual Illinois Association of County Clerks and Recorders Conference on
Thursday in Peoria.
One new rule, which took effect Dec. 24, states that the date a postmark
is applied to a piece of mail may not reflect the day it was received by
the Postal Service.
Currently, 14 states, including Illinois, will accept mail-in ballots if
they are received within a certain period after Election Day if they are
postmarked on or before Election Day.
Clerks warned that uncertainty about when ballots will now be postmarked
necessitates voters to act earlier. The way postmarks are applied is not
changing, the USPS says. Mail is only postmarked at distribution
centers, and that will remain the same.
But in an effort to improve mail delivery efficiency, some localities’
mail may be sent to a different distribution center than in the past,
which can increase the amount of time it takes for the USPS to receive
and then postmark mail at these centers.
“It’s a question mark of when will it actually get through a
distribution center. So I’m advising my voters to make sure that they
get their vote-by-mail ballot in the mail no less than a week before
Election Day,” John Ackerman, the Tazewell County clerk, said.
In the city of Peoria, for example, the distribution center is in
Peoria. Tazewell County’s center, Ackerman said, is in Champaign,
although Peoria is geographically closer.
To educate voters about the change, he said, his office will include
yellow index cards with the recommendation in the vote-by-mail packets
sent to voters.
Voters can also request a manual postmark from their local post office
or drop off their ballot at the election official’s office.
But if election officials can’t rely on postmarks to reflect accurate
dates, a number of mail-in ballots that were mailed prior to Election
Day may not be counted at all clerks said.
Ballots also will no longer be automatically considered priority mail,
increasing the amount of time it will take to deliver the mail.
“We’ve utilized that successfully over the years to make sure that all
those ballots not only are delivered, but they are received in time.
Changing that status dramatically changes how that will impact us as
well,” Ackerman said.
These changes will be most felt during the recount process, when
candidates are “scrambling,” Ackerman said.
The clerks generally agreed this could change the outcome of a race.
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Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman speaks at a news conference in
Peoria. Tazewell traveled to Washington, D.C., with three other
clerks in September 2025 to meet with federal lawmakers to advocate
against the USPS changes. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jenna
Schweikert)
Clerks also said they are concerned about changes impacting voter trust
in elections, especially because voter guidance is now going to be
different depending on the county’s location and distribution center.
“We’ve told all of our voters, get your vote-by-mail ballot in your box
by Election Day to be postmarked for Election Day, we will process it
now. We’re ripping the rug out from underneath that,” Ackerman said.
“That leads to distrust. When you can’t give a solid date, you can’t
give a solid answer, when you can’t reply back to them with facts, when
it’s left for interpretation. That erodes the trust that we’ve been
trying to rebuild.”
In the past, when this potential change was proposed, the clerks said
they were able to speak to federal lawmakers to advocate for its
reversal.
In late September 2025, a delegation of clerks traveled to Washington,
D.C., to meet with lawmakers and staff about changes to federal funding
for election infrastructure and learned lawmakers didn’t know about the
potential changes, Ackerman said.
“They were all unaware that this change was going to take effect. They
were unaware, in my opinion, of the impacts it would have on vote by
mail,” he said.
This time, however, clerks didn’t know the changes were proposed until
days before they were implemented.
“It is our goal to get to the public being 100% trusting of our system,
but that’s something we’ve strived diligently to do to repair that
relationship, and I think this hurts that,” Ackerman said.
To be sure your vote has been counted, voters can call their county
clerk’s office, or some counties offer ballot tracking online.
County clerks emphasized that voting by mail is still safe and secure,
but it might take more work and planning.
Kathy Michael, the McLean County clerk, said voters can request to have
their ballot manually postmarked at the post office when they return it.
“Just mail it early or go into the post office. I don’t want to say it’s
that simple. I don’t want to make it simple, but that’s all you have to
do,” she said. “Don’t be discouraged and not do it and not vote. … Get
it postmarked, and you can go off on your vacation and not worry about
it.”
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