ABC News: ‘Don’t wait’: Some swing state officials urge voters to bypass the mail to return ballots

With less than a week until Election Day and millions of absentee ballots still outstanding, state election officials in at least six in critical swing states are revising their message for voters, now urging them to bypass the Postal Service and instead vote in person or hand-deliver their ballots to ensure they are delivered in time to be counted.

Officials in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, Georgia and Ohio have all put out calls in recent days warning voters about potential postal delays, encouraging voters to use drop boxes or deliver ballots by hand. …

Over the years, there is a long record of ballots being rejected for arriving late, according elections experts speaking to FiveThirtyEight. And an ABC News analysis found that to be one of the primary reasons absentee ballots were rejected in the 2016 and 2018 elections.

Now, voting rights activists say the risks are even higher that forces beyond a voter’s control could lead to their disenfranchisement.

“There is no telling how many that could be but it may be tens of thousands of ballots will come in late and not be counted even if they were mailed and postmarked before or on Nov. 3,” Jay Heck, the Wisconsin executive director of Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to protecting and improving voters’ rights and access to the ballot, told ABC News.