This is a weekly program with commentary on current issues.

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor insufficient postage shall keep mailed ballots from their appointment with the RivCo Registrar o’ Voters.

So says Registrar Barbara Dunmore, whom I called following a spate of inquiries from readers who noted that this season’s absentee ballot grossly outweighs 42 cents, the first-class postal rate du jour.

In fact, most voters will have to dole out at least 59 cents, or simply slap on two first-classers, if they decide to go postal.

The registrar isn’t trying to hide this. It’s right there in the “rules”. But it’s a cinch that some of the 300,000 RivCo voters expected to ballot by mail will read right over them.

So then what happens? Does your under-stamped packet languish in the dead-ballot office?

Dunmore: “We get ballots with no stamps on them. We over the postage. We have an account with the U.S. Postal service. (The balance is $15K, down from $25K in 2006.) Any ballot that comes in short of postage is debited to that account.” And the mail goes through.