Through a collaboration with the U.S. Postal Service, the Butler County Bureau of Elections was able to collect and count roughly 200 ballots that otherwise likely wouldn’t have arrived in time to be included in the results.

By conducting three additional mail runs, the local elections bureau was able to get the votes that otherwise would not have made it to the office in time to be counted on election night.

You see, while convenient, mail-in voting has some rules that must be closely followed. One of those rules: The ballot must reach the Bureau of Elections office by the close of polls. On Tuesday, that was 8 p.m.

Mail-in ballots can be dropped in the mail or hand-delivered to the office, but unless they reach their destination before that deadline, they are not counted.

Thus, sending a mail-in ballot on Monday in hopes that it would arrive by Tuesday isn’t likely to result in a successfully cast ballot. Your ballot would most likely be rendered void because of its delay.

However, this past Tuesday, the Butler County Bureau of Elections planned ahead. With extra mail runs, the office was able to collect more ballots.

According to county solicitor Wil White, “almost every one of those” was postmarked the day before the election.

So, one more time for the people in the back. Procrastination is not the way to go when it comes to voting. Whether you intend to cast a mail-in ballot or vote the day-of the election, having a plan is key.

Kudos to the Bureau of Elections for planning ahead and counting as many votes as possible by collaborating with the post office. — TL