Election officials raise 'serious questions' about US Postal Service ballot delivery plans

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A group of about three dozen state and local election officials on Wednesday raised serious concerns about the U.S. Postal Service's ability to deliver millions of ballots for the 2024 presidential election.

The letter, from the National Association of State Election Directors and other state and local election officials, said election officials "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 officials said that, despite repeated meetings with USPS election staff, "we have not seen improvement or concerted efforts to remediate our concerns."

The letter added that over the past two years in nearly every state local election officials are receiving postmarked ballots "well outside the three to five business days USPS claims as the First-Class delivery standard."'

USPS said it is "committed to the timely and secure delivery of the nation’s Election Mail" and local and state election officials "have brought any issues to our attention, we have promptly addressed those concerns, and we will continue to do so."

USPS said on average it is currently delivering mail in 2.7 days but continues "to recommend as a common-sense measure that voters should mail their completed ballot before Election Day, and at least one week prior to their state’s deadline."

The USPS inspector general's office has said 46% of votes were cast by mail in the November 2020 presidential election, compared with 21% in the 2016 election.

USPS implements "extraordinary measures" to speed delivery of ballots two weeks before the day of the general election, including steps like additional pickups, extra deliveries, and special sort plans on processing equipment.

USPS said in the 2020 general election, it delivered 99.89% of ballots from voters to election officials within seven days. Voting by mail is set to begin in mid-September.

An inspector general's office report in July found some USPS operational changes "pose a risk of individual ballots not being counted" and made recommendations to improve readiness for timely processing and delivery of ballots.

In December 2021, USPS and the NAACP reached a settlement to resolve a 2020 lawsuit over election mail that the Justice Department said would ensure prioritizing delivering ballots in future elections.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Diane Craft)