On Wednesday, September 11, more than thirty election officials from various states and local governments in the United States sent a letter to the United States Postal Service (USPS), sternly questioning whether the postal service would be able to properly handle the distribution of millions of mail-in ballots for the 2024 presidential election.
The National Association of State Election Directors and state and local election officials expressed in their letter that they believe USPS has operational issues in the process of collecting, sorting, transferring, and delivering mail. There have been instances of missing or delayed election mail, indicating insufficient training by USPS in ensuring timely and accurate delivery of mail, which poses a serious concern.
Officials pointed out that despite holding multiple meetings and discussions with USPS election staff, they have not seen any improvements or proactive efforts from USPS to address their concerns.
The letter also mentioned that over the past two years, election officials from almost every state have received election mail late, with postmark dates significantly exceeding the “standard delivery of first-class mail within three to five working days.”
In response, USPS stated that they will promptly address and resolve any issues raised by local and state election officials, and pledged not to neglect their responsibilities. USPS claimed that in the 2020 general election, 99.89% of ballots were delivered from voters to election officials within seven days.
USPS stated that the current average delivery time for mail is 2.7 days, but they recommend that voters mail their ballots at least a week before the deadline. This year, the postal service has implemented a series of measures such as increasing pick-up frequencies in the two weeks leading up to the election day, expanding delivery services, and implementing special sorting plans to expedite the delivery of ballots.
However, a report by the USPS Inspector General in July found that some new USPS operations may potentially cause individual ballots to go uncounted, suggesting that improvements in preparedness are necessary.
The USPS Inspector General noted that in the November 2020 presidential election, 46% of votes were cast through mail-in ballots, compared to only 21% in the 2016 election.