(NN&V Staff) – As more states distribute mail-in ballots ahead of the November election, concerns about the reliability of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in handling these ballots are growing louder.
As election integrity experts John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky warned in a recent column published by the Daily Caller, the National Association of State Election Directors and the National Association of Secretaries of State have penned a letter to the USPS urging immediate action to prevent potential issues that could disrupt voting by mail.
In the letter, they emphasized the urgency of the situation, writing, “We implore you to take immediate and tangible corrective action to address the ongoing performance issues with USPS election mail service.” They warned that without improvements, voter participation and trust could be severely undermined.
The reliance on mail-in voting has surged, especially during the 2020 election when 43% of voters cast their ballots by mail, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. That’s a huge leap from the 2016 election, when only 23% of voters used this method.
Unfortunately, the list of USPS problems mentioned in the letter is alarming. USPS staff are reportedly unaware of policies surrounding election mail, leading to delays and mishandling of ballots. In some cases, ballots that were postmarked on time still took over 10 days to reach election offices, far past the deadline.
Recent audits from the USPS Inspector General revealed that during the primaries in 13 states, nearly 5% of mail-in ballots either arrived late or were returned after the legal deadline. One incident detailed that local postal managers weren’t even aware that Election Day was that week, highlighting just how critical the situation has become.
As Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab bluntly put it, “The Pony Express is more efficient at this point.”
The effects of these issues aren’t just hypothetical. In Utah, a Republican congressional primary in July was decided by a mere 176 votes, but nearly 1,200 mail-in ballots were disqualified due to processing delays. Most of these disqualified ballots were from a county where the losing candidate had overwhelming support.
Mail-in voting also raises concerns about voter roll accuracy, especially in states like Nevada, where the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) has identified hundreds of problematic voter addresses, ranging from strip clubs to gas stations. PILF argues that, with Nevada’s policy of automatically mailing ballots to all active registered voters, it’s essential that voter rolls be updated and accurate to avoid ballots being sent to places where no one lives.
“Mailing ballots to addresses where no one lives can result in significant issues with the integrity of the election,” PILF noted. They highlighted the stakes by pointing out that Nevada’s 2022 Senate race, which determined party control of the U.S. Senate, was decided by just 7,928 votes—while 95,556 ballots were sent to undeliverable addresses.
As the November election approaches, the pressure is mounting on the USPS to resolve these issues. Election officials and voters alike hope the Postal Service can deliver on its promises and ensure that every mail-in ballot is counted correctly and on time.
But for now, Fund and von Spakovsky ask voters one important question: “If you had a winning lottery ticket, would you trust the mail to deliver it, or would you claim it in person?”
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