State and local election officials across the country are working together letter On Wednesday, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the federal postal service had failed to improve delivery problems before the November election.
The letter, sent by the National Association of State Election Officials and the National Association of Secretaries of State, expressed concern that the Postal Service will not be able to handle the coming flood of mail-in ballots. The presidents of 29 local election boards also signed the joint letter.
“This demonstrates a widespread lack of understanding and enforcement of USPS policies.”
They warned of “inconsistent training of USPS employees,” “unusually long delivery times,” and “an increase in mail being returned as undeliverable.”
Election officials in all 50 states “have raised serious questions about the operations of processing facilities, lost and delayed election mail, and front-line training gaps that are impacting the USPS's ability to deliver election mail in a timely and accurate manner,” the report said.
Election officials argued that over the past year they have “not observed any concerted effort to make improvements or correct concerns,” and noted that many of those concerns were identified in a recent inspector general audit.
They argued that USPS officials are “ignorant” about Postal Service policy regarding election mail, which in some cases has led to “inconsistent guidance” and ultimately to voter “disenfranchisement.”
“However, the frequency and widespread nature of the training-related issues makes it clear that these are not one-off mistakes or issues at a specific facility,” the letter continued. “Rather, this indicates a widespread lack of understanding and enforcement of policies among USPS employees.”
The letter said election officials “in nearly every state are receiving on-time, postmarked ballots well after Election Day and well beyond the three to five business days that USPS asserts as the standard for first-class delivery.”
“In other cases, ballots sent to elections offices have been returned to voters with the elections office address marked as undeliverable,” he added, noting the problem is occurring “nationwide.”
Such errors could result in voters being moved to an inactive voter registration list and requiring additional steps to reconfirm their participation, the letter said.
“The increase in undeliverable mail raises two significant concerns: (1) voters whose ballots were not delivered in person or to their elections office may be disenfranchised and (2) voters' voter registration records may be cancelled,” the report states.
In a statement NBC NewsIn response to the letter, a USPS spokesperson said, “While we currently deliver mail in 2.7 days, we continue to encourage voters to take the common sense step of mailing their completed ballot prior to Election Day, and at least one week before their state's deadline.”
“As discussed extensively with election officials, the Postal Service is currently modernizing its network,” the spokesperson continued. “Election mail has consistently outperformed regular service thanks to long-standing processes and procedures.”
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