LAS VEGAS — Voters in battleground states like Wisconsin and Georgia can trust their mail-in ballots will arrive at election offices on time, a top U.S. postal official insisted Thursday — but voters on both sides of the aisle Those who did not accept it accused him of declining services across the country.
In testimony before the House Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, Louis DeJoy, CEO and Postmaster General of the U.S. Postal Service, said his 650,000 employees will ensure that ballots are moved. He said the public can “absolutely” trust that nothing will impede the delivery of votes.
A House committee is meeting to consider the agency's role in the 2024 election, drawing intense scrutiny from state election officials.
Subcommittee Chairman David Joyce (R-Ohio) said mail-in voting soared 25% between 2016 and 2020, and “we expect mail-in voting to become popular again” this year. said.
Mr. DeJoy blithely dismissed concerns, saying, “We achieved results during the most sensational political period of the election, at the height of the pandemic.”
In 2020, the Brooklyn-born postmaster general, who took office three months before that year's vote, said the USPS was “prepared to successfully deliver mail-in ballots nationwide to voters who choose us to vote.” “
Despite such derision, the volume of second-class mail has declined by approximately 500% since 2000, and the US House members blasted Mr. DeJoy over his plan to “Delivery to Americans.”
Sen. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said the agency's Badger State realignment has “interrupted” mail delivery in the state.
“You blew up a rocket ship,” Pocan said, referring to transferring all of Wisconsin's mail processing to Milwaukee. “I understand that you're focused on reducing costs. We want you to focus on delivering the mail.”
Mr. Joyce chided Mr. DeJoy for the 51% drop in on-time performance for First Class Mail in Atlanta due to changes in the consolidation plan, which he said had “eroded the public's confidence” in the agency.
“It's imperative that the Postal Service gets this right,” he said.
Getting it right will be especially important in the battleground state of Nevada. After the 2020 pandemic, the Silver State only authorized mail-in voting for the general election, which magnified the impact of mail-processing issues.
The state is sending mail-in ballots to all registered voters, but the practice is not yet fully widespread. In 2022, 51% of just over 1 million ballots were returned by mail. 27.7% appeared in person early and 21% appeared in person on Election Day.
Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar's office did not respond to The Post's request for comment.
Over the summer, Mr. DeJoy canceled plans to process outgoing mail from Reno, California, Sacramento, California, and other northern Nevada cities about 212 miles away. Representative Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), who represent the area, successfully lobbied the USPS to continue processing outbound mail in Reno.
The National Voting Institute, a nonpartisan group that promotes the use of paper ballots by mail, ranks Nevada as one of the top states for voting by mail.
The agency will process ballots sent to voters on a priority basis and returned ballots will be processed on a priority basis, but he will send ballots to voters seven days before the voting deadline. I urged him to do so.
DeJoy said using intelligent mail barcodes to track each return item step-by-step through the system can help. But neither the USPS nor the main body of state election officials could say how many of the nation's 8,000 local election jurisdictions would adopt the coding this year.
Tammy Patrick, CEO of programs at the Election Center of the National Association of Election Officials, told the Post that swing states like California and Virginia each require the use of special barcodes on mail-in ballots. He said it is mandatory.
Keep US Post, a nonprofit group promoting postal reform, has called on the Post to hold the Postal Service accountable by curbing periodic postage rate increases and reducing rate authority if performance targets are not met. He said the just-introduced bill “will ensure effective and affordable postal service.” “For the American people,” he said, allaying concerns about voting by mail.
Lawmakers and watchdog organizations are not the only ones criticizing the agency.
“The United States Postal Service has admitted to sloppy operations, with mail lost and delayed at levels never seen before,” former President Donald Trump said. said recently In real social. So, “How can we possibly allow or trust the United States Postal Service to conduct the 2024 presidential election? They can't do that. Help!”
