Postmaster General Louis De Joy’s attempts to sabotage mail-in voting in support of outgoing President Donald Trump have done lasting damage to the United States Postal Service, but at least it won’t suppress ballots for the Georgia runoff elections. Thanks to several lawsuits filed by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and other groups, USPS agreed to enter a formal accord to expedite the handling of mail-in ballots. Newsweek writes:
The new agreement, filed Wednesday night, requires postal workers to expedite delivery of mail ballots that it identifies at processing facilities from January 2 through January 4, on the eve of Georgia's runoff races. This "express" route is meant to ensure overnight delivery to local elections departments.
Additional terms oblige the Postal Service to expedite ballots from a printing facility in Albany, New York, to their respective destinations at Georgia residences; perform daily facility sweeps to locate any parcels that were misplaced; and deliver completed ballots cast in Atlanta directly to the district's election board.
USPS also agreed to continue following court-ordered instructions effected previously, as the bureau nears the end of a national election cycle that depended heavily on its services.
This is a big victory for the voting rights group, as it ensures USPS will do everything possible to deliver mail-in ballots in time. By Georgia law, they must arrive at the repective election board before polls close at 7PM on January 5.
USPS will deliver the ballots, but we still need to make sure that Democratic voters send in their ballots for the Democratic candidates. If you can, please chip in a few bucks for Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock and some of their key allies in Georgia via ActBlue!
Do you want to know more about helping Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock win their runoff elections? Check out the diary Ho ho how we are going to win the GA runoffs over Christmas — a (nearly) complete guide.