Ready and willing on 15th Ave E (Image: CHS)

It is a small piece of a giant system but Capitol Hill voters can hopefully rest a little easier knowing the United State Postal Service is checking every last box when it comes to making sure ballots are getting where they are supposed to go in the state’s popular all-mail system.

The 15th Ave E rogue mailbox is in service and carriers won’t leave ballots hanging in election limbo in 2024, the USPS says.

“The U.S. Postal Service is committed to the timely and secure delivery of election mail and has a plan in place to make sure all collection boxes are in working order for our customers,” a USPS spokesperson tells CHS.

Following last year’s November election, officials scrambled after it turned out 85 ballots were buried in mail that had not been collected from the USPS dropbox located near Kaiser Permanente’s Capitol Hill campus.

Thanks to Chris Paulus for the picture and his work checking in on the rogue mailbox

USPS officials said the mailbox had been marked with “out of service” signs “multiple times” but the signage was “removed.” The box was to be taken out of service and replaced, USPS said at the time.

While state law allowed King County Elections to check bar codes and signature dates to determine if the ballots had been filled-in on time, the incident sparked concern about holes in the state’s all-mail voting system and in the mail system as the popular voting choice has spread across the country.

Now, with the next major election coming following last year’s small but concerning oversight, Chris Paulus of the Capitol Hill Community Council checked in on the problem mailbox this month as voting began. He found the problem box was still in place and still has the wrong address listed on it — 1804 15th Ave.

And it is still collecting mail.

The postal service says don’t worry. They know about the box even though it is actually located at 200 15th Ave E and marked with an official USPS label marked “1804 15th Ave.”

“The sticker on the collection box is incorrect and a new one has been ordered,” USPS assures, adding the stickers have “no impact on the box being in/out of service, or whether mail is picked up.”

The official USPS mailbox locator also needs to be updated. It lists the box with with the 1804 15th Ave address from before it was moved north on the street.

The postal service says it is on the lookout for problem mailboxes but that customers are the best line of defense against collection issues.

“Carriers regularly inspect the boxes when they collect mail from them and will notify management when something is amiss, or if a customer brings an issue to our attention,” the USPS spokesperson said. “USPS will inspect the box and if it can’t be serviced on the street it will be removed for repair/replacement and any mail in the box will be collected and processed as usual.”

With the attention on this particular mailbox again this election season, it is probably safe to assume this particular mail slot is one of the safest in the city for making sure your ballot is delivered.

For those who can, consider cutting out the extra step and drop your ballot in one of the county’s drop boxes across the area including the newly relocated Seattle Central drop box. Too stuffed? Here’s what to do when the collection box is full.

In the meantime, just in case, CHS is running a test to make sure the rogue 15th Ave E mailbox is fully operational. We’ll report back with what we learn.

UPDATE: Good news! The CHS Crow test envelope is on the move.

The rogue mailbox has a noon scheduled pick-up time so CHS HQ was a little worried when the location had not updated by 3 PM.

But a check around 5 PM shows USPS is on the job and the letter is making its way through the city for delivery.

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the post people from their appointed rounds…

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