Responding to a letter from state and local election officials, the USPS said that it is equipped to deal with mail-in ballots.
A coalition representing state and local election officials across the United States has warned that problems with the nation’s mail system could disrupt voting in some areas, with just weeks to go before the 2024 presidential election.
The National Association of State Election Directors and the National Association of Secretaries of State wrote that they have “ongoing concerns” about USPS’s ability to perform ahead of the Nov. 5 contest, in a Sept. 11 letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
Over the past year, the two groups wrote, mailed ballots that were postmarked on time were received by local election offices days after the deadline to be counted. They also noted that properly addressed election mail sent to voters was being returned to the two groups’ member organizations as undeliverable, a problem that could automatically cause voters to be designated as inactive through no fault of their own, potentially creating chaos when they show up at the polls to cast a ballot.
In that time period, “election officials across the country have raised serious questions about processing facility operations, lost or delayed election mail, and front-line training deficiencies impacting USPS’s ability to deliver election mail in a timely and accurate manner,” the letter reads.
Further, officials have told the two associations that mail sent to voters is being deemed “undeliverable” at higher than normal rates, sometimes in instances where a “voter is known not to have moved.”
“This has affected a range of election mail, including informational mailers about critical election information and voter address confirmation cards, as well as ballots,” the letter reads.
Despite the alleged issues, the groups said that repeated attempts to contact USPS have not resulted in changes, adding that the mail delivery problems result from “a pervasive lack of understanding and enforcement of USPS policies among its employees.”
“We implore you to take immediate and tangible corrective action to address the ongoing performance issues with USPS election mail service,” they said. “Failure to do so will risk limiting voter participation and trust in the election process.”
Responding to their letter, USPS said that it is equipped to deal with mail-in ballots. But the agency said that voters who wish to submit ballots through the mail should not procrastinate.
“We are ready to deliver. We were successful in 2020 delivering a historic volume of mail in ballots; also in 2022 and will do so again in November 2024,” Adrienne Marshall, director of election mail and government services, said in a statement.
In December, USPS said in a news release that it has consistently delivered mail and packages to 98 percent of the U.S. population in fewer than three days during peak volume periods.
DeJoy responded to previous criticism of his management of USPS in a Washington Post opinion article published in July, also noting that 98 percent of Americans received their mail and packages within three days. However, he noted that the service has suffered in recent times due to what he called “degraded operating conditions.”
“Although we have slipped recently because of difficulties in overcoming our degraded operating conditions while opening new facilities, and remodeling and repositioning existing ones, we will soon be back to a performance level that can make the nation proud,” he said.
The National Association of State Election Directors and the National Association of Secretaries of State did not respond to an Epoch Times request for comment. The Epoch Times contacted USPS for additional comment on Sept. 11, but received no response by press time.
During the 2020 election, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, election officials in multiple states expanded vote-by-mail efforts. After the conclusion of that election, former President Donald Trump said that mail-in ballots can lead to election fraud. However, in 2024, he has urged GOP voters to vote by mail, early in-person, or on Election Day itself.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.