TOPEKA, Kan. — State and native election officers from throughout the nation on Wednesday warned that issues with the nation’s mail supply system threaten to disenfranchise voters within the upcoming presidential election, telling the pinnacle of the U.S. Postal Service that it hasn’t fastened persistent deficiencies.
In an alarming letter, the officers mentioned that over the previous yr, together with the just-concluded main season, mailed ballots that had been postmarked on time had been acquired by native election places of work days after the deadline to be counted. Additionally they famous that correctly addressed election mail was being returned to them as undeliverable, an issue that might mechanically ship voters to inactive standing via no fault of their very own, doubtlessly creating chaos when these voters present as much as forged a poll.
The officers additionally mentioned that repeated outreach to the Postal Service to resolve the problems had failed and that the widespread nature of the issues made it clear these had been “not one-off mistakes or a problem with specific facilities. Instead, it demonstrates a pervasive lack of understanding and enforcement of USPS policies among its employees.”
The letter to U.S. Postmaster Normal Louis DeJoy got here from two teams that characterize prime election directors in all 50 states. They advised DeJoy, “We have not seen improvement or concerted efforts to remediate our concerns.”
“We implore you to take immediate and tangible corrective action to address the ongoing performance issues with USPS election mail service,” they added. “Failure to do so will risk limiting voter participation and trust in the election process.”
The Postal Service on Wednesday reiterated DeJoy’s assurances that it is effectively positioned to swiftly ship election mail regardless of being within the midst of a community modernization that has brought on some supply hiccups. Mail is at present being delivered in 2.7 days on common, officers mentioned, however the Postal Service remains to be urging voters to not procrastinate.
“We’re able to ship. We had been profitable in 2020 delivering a historic quantity of mail in ballots; additionally in 2022 and can accomplish that once more in November 2024,” Adrienne Marshall, director of Election Mail and Authorities Companies, mentioned in an announcement.
The 2 teams, the Nationwide Affiliation of Secretaries of State and the Nationwide Affiliation of State Election Administrators, mentioned native election officers “in nearly every state” are receiving well timed postmarked ballots after Election Day and out of doors the three to 5 enterprise days USPS claims as the usual for first-class mail.
The letter comes lower than two weeks after DeJoy mentioned in an interview that the Postal Service was able to deal with a flood of mail ballots anticipated as a part of this November’s presidential election and as former President Donald Trump continues to sow doubts about U.S. elections by falsely claiming he gained in 2020.
That yr, amid the worldwide pandemic, election officers reported sending simply over 69 million ballots within the mail, a considerable enhance from 4 years earlier.
Whereas it is doubtless that quantity will probably be smaller now, many citizens have embraced mail voting and are available to depend on it. And each Democrats and Republicans have launched efforts to push supporters to vote early, both in individual or by mail to “bank” their votes earlier than Election Day on Nov. 5.
The letter went out on the day the primary mailed ballots of this yr’s basic election had been being despatched, to absentee voters in Alabama.
Postal Service officers advised reporters final month that nearly 98% of ballots had been returned to election officers inside three days in 2020, and in 2022, the determine was almost 99%. DeJoy mentioned he want to inch nearer to 100% this election cycle and that the Postal Service is healthier positioned to deal with ballots than 4 years in the past.
However officers in rural states have been important of the Postal Service for years because it has consolidated mail-processing facilities to minimize its prices and monetary losses.
Along with being signed by the present and incoming presidents for each teams of election officers, the leaders of teams that characterize native election officers in 25 states had been listed.
The election officers warned that any election mail returned to an election workplace as undeliverable might set off a course of outlined in federal regulation for sustaining correct lists of registered voters. Meaning a voter might be moved to “inactive” standing and be required to take further motion to confirm their tackle to take part within the election, the officers mentioned within the letter.
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, the latest previous president of the Nationwide Affiliation of Secretaries of State, despatched his personal letter in latest days to DeJoy. He mentioned almost 1,000 ballots from his state’s Aug. 6 main election could not be counted as a result of they arrived too late or with out postmarks — and extra proceed to come back in.
“The Pony Specific is extra environment friendly at this level,” Schwab posted on the social media platform X in late August.
Schwab and different Kansas election officers even have mentioned some ballots arrive on time however with out postmarks, which retains them from being counted underneath Kansas regulation. What’s extra, Schwab advised DeJoy, native postal clerks have advised election officers that they can not add postmarks later even when it is clear that the Postal Service dealt with the poll forward of the mail-in deadline.
Kansas will rely ballots postmarked on or earlier than Election Day in the event that they arrive inside three days. The Republican-controlled Legislature created that grace interval in 2017 over issues that mail supply had slowed after the Postal Service shut down seven mail-processing facilities within the state. That left a lot of the state’s mail dealt with via bigger facilities in Denver, Amarillo, Texas, and Kansas Metropolis, Missouri.
Schwab has promoted using native poll drop packing containers for voting prematurely, breaking with different Republicans who’ve prompt with out proof that they are often sources of fraud. Schwab has lengthy mentioned the packing containers are safer than the U.S. mail.
“Preserve your poll out of the palms of the federal authorities!” he suggested voters in a publish on X after the August main.
Of their letter Wednesday, election officers mentioned colleagues throughout the U.S. have reported that Postal Service employees, from managers to mail carriers, are uninformed concerning the service’s insurance policies for dealing with election-related mail, give them inconsistent steerage and misdeliver ballots.
“There is no amount of proactive communication election officials can do to account for USPS’s inability to meet their own service delivery timelines,” the officers wrote. “State and local election officials need a committed partner in USPS.”
