(VitalNews.org) – State and local election officials have said that problems with the nation’s postal service mail delivery system could threaten to disenfranchise voters in the upcoming election.
The officials stated in a letter that over the past year, mailed ballots that were posted on time were received by local election officials days after the deadline to be counted. They also stated that there were issues with properly addressed election mail being sent back to them as undeliverable. The officials added that there have been multiple outreaches to USPS where resolution of the issue has failed.
The letter stated, “We have not seen improvement or concerted efforts to remediate our concerns.” It continued, “In fact, many of the issues raised by election officials are echoed in the recent findings of the USPS Office of Inspector General Audit, Election Mail Readiness for the 2024 General Election.”
The letter was written by two groups that represent top election officials in all fifty states and it was addressed and written to Louis DeJoy, the US postmaster general. The National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors, the two groups, said that election officials in “nearly every state” have received timely postmarked ballots after election day.
This comes not long after DeJoy spoke out saying that USPS was ready to take on the influx of voting ballots. He stated that the postal service is much more prepared to handle the voting ballots than they were four years ago.
Democrats and Republicans have tried pushing early voting to avoid any issues with counting their ballot, especially those that are mailed in.
The Save the Post Office Coalition, a coalition of over three hundred groups, has called for Congress to pass the Election Mail Act which would improve election mail delivery and tracking security, however, the bill hasn’t reached a vote in the House or Senate.
“Congress should create a national standard for voting by mail so that everyone can have confidence their vote will be counted – no matter their zip code, no matter how they chose to vote,” said Congresswoman Nikema Williams.
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