Drive Shelby ballots to Bartlett Post Office
For Shelby County voters who haven’t yet mailed their absentee ballot or haven’t received it yet, the most likely way to get your vote counted is to drive your ballot to the Bartlett Post Office and mail it there. You can do so up until 3 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3. The ballot must be mailed from the post office, not just dropped off there.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Tre Hargett and coordinator of elections Mark Goins announced one ballot dropoff location per each of Tennessee’s 95 counties regardless of size. Shelby County’s location is at the Bartlett Post Office, 2966 Elmore Park Road.
The Bartlett Post Office was chosen as where Shelby County voters have to go because that’s where the Shelby County Election Commission gets its mail, said Suzanne Thompson, spokeswoman for the Shelby County Election Commission said. Each location statewide was chosen based on where that respective county’s election commission gets its mail, according to a news release from the election commission.
The election commission recommends that voters concerned about their absentee ballot arriving in time mail the ballot in from the Bartlett Post Office even before Election Day, Thompson said.
The location was also used during the August primary. However, the Secretary of State’s office did not tell the election commission until just ahead of the deadline to drop off ballots, prompting last-second phone calls from the election commission to media outlets in an attempt to inform voters.
Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.