Island County Auditor Sheilah Crider believes that scant or nonexistent mail delivery on Tuesday, coupled with the general slowness of mail, is a major problem in vote-by-mail states like Washington.

Especially during a presidential election year that may see historic participation.

Crider said she is in touch with auditors across Washington as well as in other states and found this is a statewide and nationwide concern.

Working with the Secretary of State’s Office, she and other auditors reached out to U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, WA-02, who put them in touch with an assistant director general of the U.S. Postal Service.

The postal service is investigating, she said, but no quick solution is in sight.

“The best thing the public can do is to mail ballots in early,” she said. “They should mail it in as much as a week before the election or, better yet, save a stamp and take it to a ballot drop box.”

The six locations for ballot drop boxes are listed on the “elections home” page of the county auditor’s website.

Larsen pointed out that he pressed the postal service not to close the processing center in Everett because of concerns about mail delays. It was closed anyway and his fears were realized, he said in a prepared statement.

“I heard from county auditors in my district earlier this year about delays in processing ballots. Since then, I have been in near weekly contact with the Postal Service, and I have been able to get its leadership to see this is a real problem,” he said.

He’s concerned about the postmarking of ballots, which is a crucialissue in the state.

“I am still pressing the postal service for answers about the timely postmarking of completed ballots,” he said. “This problem must be fixed before elections coming up this year. There shouldn’t be one ballot with a late postmark that was in the hands of the postal service before the election.”

Yet Ernie Swanson, a spokesperson for the postal service, said he checked with customer relations officials and they’re unaware of  problems with Tuesday deliveries or ballots.

“We’re been handling absentee ballots for years without any problems,” he said.

The postal service closed more than half of its processing centers across the nation, including one in Everett, in a cost-cutting move several years ago; the agency has been losing billions of dollars each year, partly due to declining mail volume, according to the postal service.

Mail going to or coming from Whidbey now goes through a processing center in Seattle. Swanson said the move didn’t appear to affect the timeliness of mail circulation.

“Everything seems to be working smoothly,” he said.

County Deputy Auditor Michele Reagan, the elections manager said her office started tracking ballot deliveries after noticing discrepancies the last few years.

Traditionally, the office received the most ballot on election day, as well as the day before and after.

Last year’s general election made the issue very clear. The office received 1,694 ballots on the Monday, just 26 ballots on Tuesday and 1,566 ballots on Wednesday.

Results were similar for the special election in February, she said.

The office has regularly been receiving voter registration forms but not one was delivered yesterday.

The result, she said, is that many of the votes aren’t being counted on election day, which may delay an accurate understanding of the results.

It also makes workflow difficult to predict at the county’s small elections office, she said.

Ballots postmarked on or before election day will eventually be counted, except on a rare occasion. Crider said the post office delivered two ballots this year postmarked for last year’s general election and those can’t be counted; she said the postal service is looking into it.

Crider said she and other auditors are also concerned about the time it takes for people to get ballots once mailed. Residents of Anacortes, for example, didn’t receive ballots until eight to 10 days after they were mailed by the Skagit County Auditor last year.

“My concern is disenfranchisement of the voters,” she said, adding everyone should have the same time to fill out and return ballots.

To ensure voters receive ballots on time, Crider said her office is prepared to send out ballots earlier than usual for the general election.

Overseas ballots are supposed to be sent 45 days before an election; her office is planning on sending them 50 to 53 days early. Regular ballots have to be sent out 18 days prior to the election.

Swanson said the postal service is well aware that this might be a blockbuster year for mail-in ballots.

“We’re gearing up for it,” he said.