1 Million Primary Ballots Were Mailed Late, Postal Service Watchdog Says

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Last edited Tue Sep 1, 2020, 11:29 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — More than one million mail-in ballots were sent late to voters during the 2020 primary elections, an internal Postal Service audit found, underscoring deep concerns about whether the agency has the ability to process what is expected to be a major increase in mail-in votes for the presidential election in November.

In a survey of mail-in ballots sent during primaries from June 2 to Aug. 13, the agency’s inspector general found that election boards across the country had sent more than one million ballots during the final week of the election, putting those votes at “high risk” of not making it back to officials in time to be counted. Hundreds of ballots were mailed after elections were over — meaning they could not be counted — and only a small percentage used the proper tracking procedures, the audit found.

With at least three-quarters of Americans eligible to receive a ballot in the mail in 2020 — the most in history — and about 80 million mail ballots expected to flood election offices this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic, the findings raised questions about whether the Postal Service would be able to handle the crush of votes.

“While the Postal Service has made progress in preparing for the 2020 general election, there are concerns surrounding integrating stakeholder processes with Postal Service processes to help ensure the timely delivery of election and political mail,” the auditors wrote.



Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections-2020/1-million-primary-ballots-were-mailed-late-postal-service-watchdog-says/ar-BB18BzXD?li=BBnb7Kz

[progree]

1. Sounds to me the election boards share a heck of a lot of blame -- 7 or less days to mail

a ballot to a voter, for a voter to respond, and send it back, and for it to be received by the election board, is a bit much to expect.

the agency’s inspector general found that election boards across the country had sent more than one million ballots during the final week of the election, putting those votes at “high risk” of not making it back to officials in time to be counted.

Well, no shit.

Though in who knows how many cases, maybe most, the election board didn't receive the ballot request from the voter in time to do better, and/or the voter took too long to mail in the ballot.

Edited to bold face the above paragraph since, well, some people apparently missed it.

[iluvtennis]

6. + agree. And it seems to be intentional to discourage mail in voting. nt

[frazzled]

9. Many voters wait until the last minute to send in their application

requests. So I don’t know that USPS is totally to blame.

I requested my mail-in ballot this July for the November 3 election (and several weeks later received notification by mail that it had been received and approved; ballots to be mailed starting September 24).

But the state law says you can request a ballot to be received at the Election Board by October 29. That leaves only 3-4 days to process the application and get it to the post office and mail it to the voter, who then must return it postmarked no later than Nov. 3. That’s asking for trouble.

[Kaleva]

13. It's possible that many voters waited to request a ballot

In Michigan, a voter has till 5 pm the Friday before an election to request a ballot.

[appalachiablue]

2. K/R

[C Moon]

5. The article refers to ballots sent TO the voter, not ballots sent from the voter.

[Midnight Writer]

7. Oops. I should have read more carefully. My apologies, and thanks for straightening me out.

[Illumination]

4. Let's just replace the 25th Amendment Candidate with Nancy! He needs to go for the

survival of the U.S...

[FM123]

8. Wow.

That is just beyond acceptable, to have the election boards send out so many ballots so late knowing it wouldn't make it out to the voter then back in time to be counted. They knew

[SheltieLover]

10. K&R!

[louzke9]

11. Something to NOTE!

Heard this during discussions on MSNBC. Trump and GOP encouraging their voters to go to the polls. If they do that, those votes will be counted almost immediately which will show Trump winning! He could lose once the mail in ballots are eventually counted BUT his voters, because they have been brainwashed, will see this as fraud. Their anger will aid Trump in what ever scheme he has cooked up, so we should be prepared for whatever "SHIT STORM" Trump has planned. Not that it will help him. Trump's FUBER plans usually fail. Just be prepared for intense hysterics, anger and perhaps some violence. Trump needs to look like he won from the get go!

[Lonestarblue]

12. That's why I'm voting in person.

Given everything happening to the USPS and the probable deliberate delays by Republican Boards of Election in sending out ballots, I just do not trust the mail for my vote. I know many people are reluctant to vote in person this year, which is understandable, but late ballots will not help us get rid of the malignancy in the White House.

[Kaleva]

14. I'm getting robocalls and flyers from the Trump campaign asking me to vote by mail

The flyers contain an application for a ballot and it's already pre-addressed back to the village clerk.