Earlier Wednesday, newly retired Lowell Director of Elections Greg Pappas joined me in the Wellpoint Studios to address criticism over his July 23rd City Council appearance, in which he questioned the ability to properly conduct a Special Election to fill the seat vacated by John Leahy.

And while controversy continues to swirl over the validity of his argument, a far more troubling discussion is being largely ignored.

On that July night, Pappas told the council over 400 mail in ballots were not counted in the 2023 Municipal Election. During the podcast, he clarified that number is somewhere between 350-400, and he explained why that’s the case; some were not properly submitted, but the vast majority weren’t counted because they arrived at City Hall too late to be included by the deadline required to submit an official tally. (the relevant portion of video begins here)

The official election results show 7,516 ballots cast on that November night and the weeks leading up to it, including early and mail-in votes. Doing the math, if 350-400 mail in ballots were never counted, that means the votes of roughly 5% of the people who thought they had a voice in who would serve on the next City Council and School Committee were null and void.

Pappas, rightfully so, calls that voter disenfranchisement.

While that 5% number is bad enough by itself. what I failed to realize until later in the day is how startling the statistics become when you consider the percentage of mail-in votes that never made it into the final tally.

An InsideLowell article from November 6, 2023 quotes Pappas as saying only 717 mail-in ballots were requested for the city election. Depending on where the number of late/disqualified mail ballots falls between the 350-400 mark, you’re looking at 48%-55% of the mail-in vote never being counted.

That, my friends, is a staggering number! And it’s one that should alarm everyone who regularly votes by mail in any election in Lowell and elsewhere.

Ironically, at almost the exact moment Pappas spoke at the July 23rd City Council meeting, the Lowell Sun published an Associated Press online article about elections officials throughout the country sounding the alarm over the ability of the U.S. Post Office to handle the expected crush of mail in voting for this year’s Presidential election. As part of those concerns, they cited “past problems” with mail-in ballots. In other words, this isn’t anything new and it’s not special to the Mill City.

During the podcast, Pappas went on to say it’s time to do away with mass mail-in voting and cited other challenges it creates.

While I agree with the sentiment, I’m under no illusion the rules enacted during covid and later codified in 2022 as a permanent part of our state’s election process are going away any time soon, if ever. Unless, of course, the usual voices shouting about voter “disenfranchisement” realize their push for mail-in voting may have actually exacerbated the problem.

I’m not holding my breath for that to happen, either, but what I will exhale is this; if you like to vote by mail, you might want to consider dropping the ballot off yourself at City Hall.

Otherwise, you risk silencing your own voice.