INDIANAPOLIS — The U.S. Postal Service is preparing for the crush of absentee ballots. It's promising voters their votes are safe and workers are up to the task. But not all voters are so sure of that.
Ashley Sparks stood in a long line to vote early and slid her vote into the ballot box.
"I wanted to make sure my vote counted," she said. "I don't trust what's going on this year."
Postal Service Greater Indiana District Manager Christi Johnson-Kennedy has heard the doubts, complaints and mistrust of voters.
"It is hurtful when we see that people don't have the confidence in us," she said.
Even with fewer sorting machines and collection boxes, Johnson-Kennedy insisted postal workers can easily handle a record number of absentee ballots.
"With the machinery and employees we have right now, we are absolutely capable of handling this volume." she said. "We are not even close to exceeding our capacity."
Beginning Monday, ballots will receive priority mail status. There will be extra postal workers, special mail collections, and use of the service's express mail system.
"We are committed to getting every ballot home," Johnson-Kennedy said.
She also said the postal service is investigating the apparent disappearance of hundreds of ballots mailed over late summer.
"We are looking very carefully at our processes from printing all the way to inception to identify where there may have been potential for a gap," Johnson-Kennedy said.
Marion County election workers will work through the weekend processing last-minute applications. The county has already sent out 95,682 mail ballots, more than four times what were sent in 2016. The county said it has already received back 64,643.
They intend to mail the final absentee ballots to voters Monday morning. That's just eight days before Election Day.
Our own 13News investigation determined it can take mail up to three days travel across Indianapolis. Completed ballots returned via mail could arrive dangerously close to the Election Day deadline.
As a precaution, election officials are encouraging voters to instead hand deliver their ballots to polling sites.