INDIANAPOLIS — The general election is 17 weeks away so companies that print mail-in ballots are warning states and counties they need to decide now if a majority of residents will be able to vote by mail.
Creating and shipping mail ballots is a complicated process that takes time to plan.
"People just need to make up their minds," Jeff Elington, president and COO of Runbeck Election Services out of Arizona, said. "The county and the states need to decide if they're going to do it or not going to do it."
Elington said election officials need to make up their minds by the end of this month, preferably sooner.
"Normally, envelopes are ordered around the middle of July," Elington said.
For Runbeck to do its job, states must first decide what their ballots will look like and get approval from the U.S. Postal Service for the design of envelopes. Only then can mail ballot vendors start the printing process. Some states are already working with vendors, limiting the capacity of mail-in ballots they can produce for the general election.
"We have about 2 million pieces we can take on," Elington said.
Two million pieces of mail may sound like a lot, but Elington said that's not the case.
"When you look at counties in Texas, New York City, Chicago, places that can take up an entire machine with just one county coming our way it doesn't leave a lot of room for others to make up their minds in September," Elington said.
Voters around the country faced major challenges in this year's primary elections. There were fewer places to cast ballots in person because of the coronavirus pandemic, some people had to wait in long lines for hours. Others were concerned to vote in person because of the threat of COVID-19 but had no other option. Those experiences have many voters looking into voting by mail but it's up to government officials to make that process easier for them.
"Get those plans made, make a decision so people can start to make plans around those decisions," Elington said.
RTV6 reached out to the Indiana Secretary of State's Offices and Marion County election officials. Both offices are still deciding whether to authorize "no-fault" absentee voting for the general election which would let anyone choose to vote by mail without a pre-approved reason.