The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has warned officials in 46 states and the District of Columbia that delivery delays may mean that many ballots …
The U. S. Postal Service (USPS) has warned officials in 46 states and the District of Columbia that delivery delays may mean that many ballots cast by mail in the November election won’t arrive in time to be counted. The warnings, delivered in letters to state election officials by USPS general counsel and executive vice president Thomas Marshall, were first reported on Friday by The Washington Post, which obtained the documents through a records request. In letters to 40 states, the Postal Service warned that state deadlines to request, return and count ballots may clash with the realities of mail delivery at a time when USPS is already facing financial troubles, delivery delays and an expected influx of election-related mail, the Post reported. Among those states were critical electoral battlegrounds such as Florida and Michigan, according to the Post’s reporting. Six other states and D. C. were reportedly told that the possible delays could impact smaller subsets of voters. In a statement, Martha Johnson, a spokesperson for USPS, noted that the Postal Service typically conducts outreach with state and local election officials in election years. “The letters were sent as part of these continuing educational efforts, building on other proactive outreach mailings sent in March and May, in addition to numerous meetings and phone calls made between the Postal Service and elections officials,” she said. But Johnson also acknowledged the dramatic increase in election-related mail due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and said that USPS “is asking election officials and voters to realistically consider how the mail works, and to be mindful of our delivery standards, in order to provide voters ample time to cast their votes through the mail.
