Hi,
My business won the bid to print and mail the ballots - they (at least 85%) went out on Friday, the 29th of July - there were various database issues, formatting & layout issues, and time issues to deal with. The balance will be mailed as soon as the addresses are corrected. The ballots were mailed 'standard mail' which means that it could take up to 2 weeks (the post office does not guarantee ANY time frame BTW) for interstate travel and delivery. I am as anxious as you all to vote and find out which state is picked, but, I hope you all agree that timeliness is less important than to make sure that everyone receives their ballot and is able to vote. Throughout this mailing I have had tremendous time presures, but, I think that 'doing it right' and making sure that each and every person recieves a ballot is more important. In a mailing of this size it is easy for a print/mail house to misplace, mis-stuff (wrong ballot in differently addressed envelopes, etc), etc because there is so much labor involved, which means humans, which means imperfections - to help combat this we took extra time to quality control the labour process. Rest assured your ballots are on their way. If you have not received your ballot by the 15th, then please let the FSP know. Although we have done as much as was possible to insure delivery to you, it is in the post office's hands and out of our control, I foresee a possible .5-1% loss of delivery (25-50 ballots lost) through the post office and we are ready to reprint and mail out First class those that did not make it through the government's postal system. Above all, I suggest we all relax a bit and don't fret - Jason and crew have done admirably and we will all get our ballots one way or another. This is a truly historic moment.... just amazing - I can't believe all the various people(other clients, friends) that have asked questions and become interested in the FSP just because they have seen the furious printing of these ballots and state reports consuming my company. If this is any indication, I really think that the sign-up rate will reach that 'point of critical mass' soon after the vote and the media blitz associated with it...
Freedom is in the mail,
michael