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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAs States Prepared Mail-in Ballots, USPS Failed to Update at Least 1.8 Million change-of-addresses
Link to tweet
Tweet text: Vera Bergengruen
@VeraMBergen
New: USPS failed to process at least 1.8 million change-of-address requests in August as election officials prepared to send out mail-in ballots, @EricLichtblau reports. Several states contacted by TIME were unaware of the change-of-address problem.
Exclusive: As States Prepared Mail-in Ballots, Postal Service Failed to Update at Least 1.8 Million...
As states prepared to send out tens of millions of ballots, USPS inexplicably stopped fully updating its change-of-address database.
time.com
@VeraMBergen
New: USPS failed to process at least 1.8 million change-of-address requests in August as election officials prepared to send out mail-in ballots, @EricLichtblau reports. Several states contacted by TIME were unaware of the change-of-address problem.
Exclusive: As States Prepared Mail-in Ballots, Postal Service Failed to Update at Least 1.8 Million...
As states prepared to send out tens of millions of ballots, USPS inexplicably stopped fully updating its change-of-address database.
time.com
Exclusive: As States Prepared Mail-in Ballots, Postal Service Failed to Update at Least 1.8 Million Addresses
https://time.com/5893881/exclusive-as-states-prepared-mail-in-ballots-postal-service-failed-to-update-at-least-1-8-million-addresses/
For three weeks in August, as election officials across the country were preparing to send out mail-in ballots to tens of millions of voters, the U.S. Postal Service stopped fully updating a national change of address system that most states use to keep their voter rolls current, according to multiple officials who use the system. A USPS spokesperson acknowledged the failure in response to questions from TIME, and said that at least 1.8 million new changes of address had not been registered in the database.
It is not clear to what extent the failure, which has not been previously reported, could compromise Americans ability to vote in this falls election. In normal times, hundreds of thousands of people move every week, and those numbers have increased during the COVID pandemic, which has forced millions of people, particularly young adults, to relocate at higher rates than usual, according to public polling and news reports. As of early June, some 3% of adults had moved and 6% had someone move in with them because of the pandemic, according to a Pew survey. That, and concern about the health risks of voting in person, experts from both parties say, will mean an unprecedented reliance on mail-in voting this year.
Several states contacted by TIME were unaware of the change-of-address problem. Officials in Minnesota, for one, sent out their ballot applications by mail earlier in September based partly on information drawn from the faulty database in August, the states election officials say. Other states had to delay sending out their ballots as they scrambled to fix incorrect addresses. At least 43 states plus the District of Columbia use the USPS change of address database. Many, like Minnesota, face close presidential contests, including Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The postal service says it fixed the change-of-address issue and restored the missing data on Sept. 14. The USPS spokesperson, Martha Johnson, said the problem did not impact mail carriers ability to forward eligible mail to a new address. Many states ban the forwarding of election ballots from an old address, however, and the Postal Service did not respond to requests for clarification on the failures potential impact on the election. Internal USPS emails shared with TIME describe the source of the problem only as an unexplained error.
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As States Prepared Mail-in Ballots, USPS Failed to Update at Least 1.8 Million change-of-addresses (Original Post)
Nevilledog
Sep 2020
OP
soothsayer
(38,601 posts)1. Jeezus
spanone
(135,831 posts)2. Mr. NOJoy needs to be jailed
hlthe2b
(102,260 posts)3. He's earned karma clearly worthy of worse than that, but I'll settle
renate
(13,776 posts)4. Every day brings a fresh hell
At least this news will be out there now.
LisaL
(44,973 posts)5. I believe you can update your address on line for
your voter registration. I don't know if you can in every state but you definitely can in OH.
People should check their registration to see what address is listed and make sure it's correct.
Midnight Writer
(21,756 posts)6. "Did not impact...ability to forward...mail"? That is bullshit.
If the changes were not entered into the system, the mail was not forwarded. Simple as that.