Election Officials Concerned That US Mail’s Issues Could Disrupt Voting
State and local election officials nationwide told the head of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, on Wednesday that their persistent deficiencies have not been fixed.
They warn that problems with the mail delivery system threaten to disenfranchise voters in the upcoming presidential election.
Election Officials Send Warning Letter To U.S. Postal Service
The letter- signed by the current and incoming presidents for both groups of election officials, listed the leaders of groups representing local election officials in 25 states.
They indicate that- including the just-concluded primary season, over the past year mailed ballots postmarked on time were received by local election offices days after the deadline to be counted. Properly addressed election mail was also being returned to them as undeliverable.
The latter could automatically mark voters with inactive status (through no fault of their own) and create a problem for those voters when they show up to cast a ballot. “Inactive” status would also force voters to take additional action to verify their address before taking part in the election.
Repeated outreach to the Postal Service to resolve the issues had failed. Officials indicated that the widespread nature of the problems made it clear that there is a pervasive lack of understanding and enforcement of USPS policies among its employees. Officials do not see it as simply a problem with specific facilities or once-off mistakes.
Coming from two groups representing top election administrators in all 50 states, the letter informed DeJoy, that they had not seen concerted efforts or improvement.
The officials implored DeJoy to take immediate and tangible corrective action to address the USPS’s ongoing performance issues with election mail service as failure to do so risks limiting voter participation. Trust in the election process will also be affected.
The letter indicates that colleagues across the U.S. reported that Postal Service staff- from managers to mail carriers are uninformed about policies for handling election-related mail. They get inconsistent guidance and misdeliver ballots. The officials reiterated the need for the USPS to be a committed partner.
Postal Service Says It’s Ready To Deliver Ballots
In 2020 there was a global pandemic, and election officials sent just over 69 million ballots through the mail, substantially more than four years earlier.
Although the numbers are likely to be lower now, many voters have embraced mail voting and will be relying on it. Both Democrats and Republicans have been pushing supporters to “bank” their votes before Election Day on November 5 by voting early, either in person or by mail.
For years, officials in rural states have criticized the USPS after it consolidated mail-processing centers to cut costs and financial losses.
DeJoy said on Wednesday that USPS is well-positioned to deliver election mail swiftly, despite the ongoing network modernization that has caused some delivery hiccups. Currently, mail is delivered in 2.7 days on average, but urges voters not to procrastinate.
Disputing the claim, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors, said local election officials are receiving timely postmarked ballots after Election Day in almost every state that are outside the three to five business days USPS claims as the standard for first-class mail.
Adrienne Marshall, director of Election Mail and Government Services, said in a statement they are ready to deliver. He highlighted that the USPS was successful in 2020 and delivered a historic volume of mail-in ballots, followed by similar success in 2022. The release said they will do so again in November 2024.
In an interview two weeks ago, DeJoy said the USPS was ready to handle the flood of mail ballots they are expecting for this November’s presidential election, especially in light of the doubts cast by former President Donald Trump about U.S. elections when he falsely claimed he won in 2020.
Last month, Postal Service officials indicated that almost 98% of ballots were returned to election officials within three days in 2020, and almost 99% in 2022.
DeJoy said he wants to inch closer to 100% this election cycle. He said the USPS is now better positioned to handle ballots than it was four years ago.