As many as 1.6 million mail-in ballots were sent to voters too close to primary elections to be returned in time, according to an audit by the Postal Service's Office Inspector General (OIG). The audit has not-so-good news on the readiness of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to process and deliver election mail. It's got some serious problems, and this was in elections conducted in May and June before Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's dismantling of the service began. The audit details several problems including ballots that didn't have tracking barcodes, ballot designs that impede processing, election mail sent out too late to meet Election Day delivery deadlines, outdated voter addresses, and differing postmark requirements set by states.
It reviewed special and primary elections, focusing on processing facilities in Santa Clarita, California; Portland, Oregon; Baltimore, Maryland; Charleston, South Carolina; Indianapolis, Indiana; Brooklyn, New York; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A key issue it found was that the USPS and state elections offices were not working together. “Resolving these issues will require higher level partnerships and cooperation between the Postal Service and various state officials, including secretaries of state and state election boards,” the OIG said. “Timely delivery of Election and Political Mail is necessary to ensure the integrity of the U.S. election process.” Among its recommendations is the USPS working with state and local officials for a standardized and “separate, simplified mail product” that would be used only for election mail and make the process uniform.
That idea was roundly rejected by David E. Williams, the Postal Service’s executive vice president and chief logistics and processing operations officer. While USPS management “largely agrees with the audit’s findings and recommendations,” Williams responded in a letter to the OIG, “we disagree with OIG’s recommendation that the Postal Service should create a new Election Mail product for the 2020 General Election. The Postal Service also does not agree that it should be responsible for those recommendations or findings that fall under the ultimate control of the election officials, and, therefore, are outside of the Postal Service’s authority.” In other words, not our job, which sounds an awful lot like the attitude DeJoy brought to Congress last week. Williams does urge voters using mail for their ballots to request ballots at least 15 days before the election and to make sure they are mailed at least seven days before Election Day.
The OIG said in a press release: "We did not evaluate recent operational changes made by the Postal Service or the significant increases in delayed mail at delivery units experienced this summer," but that in response to a request from Congress in August, "we have an ongoing project which will evaluate these operational changes and their impact on mail service."
In addition to the rejected recommendations that the USPS devise a specific ballot product and work more closely with elections officials, the OIG said that process facilities should "perform an accurate daily certification that they are clear of Election and Political Mail using the Operational Clean Sweep Search Checklist" and "[c]learly define roles, responsibilities, and oversight to ensure that the Political and Election Mail Audit Checklist is completed; and define timeframes for completion during election season." They’re also recommending that "mail processing facilities use and maintain the standardized Election and Political Mail log for each operation." Given DeJoy's sabotage, including stopping overtime, whether there'll be time to do all that every day is a problem. Which is what DeJoy apparently intended.
Bottom line: Make your voting plan now and make sure that your ballot counts.
