Largest ‘Precinct’: Why Some Mail Ballots Travel Across State Lines Before Counting Begins
Transparency shouldn't be controversial.
The U.S. Postal Service system of handling and delivering mail ballots often leads to rejected or late ballots, election security advocates contend.
The Election Integrity Network issued two recent reports on the handling of mail ballots by postal employees, and the use of regional mail processing centers across state lines. The reports claim that current practices could either result in delayed ballots or confusion over postmarks during an election.
In the 2022 election, 549,824 mail ballots were rejected, about 1.5% of all absentee/mail-in ballots, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission found. Common reasons for rejected ballots include non-matching signatures and missed deadlines.
“From the outside, those are just ‘undeliverable’ or ‘missing’ ballots in a large system,” an Election Integrity Network report released Monday says. “For each voter, it is the loss of the one voice they have in their own government.”
For its part, the U.S. Postal Service counters that local election officials are responsible for matters such as enforcing deadlines, using barcodes, identifying eligible voters, and ensuring correct addresses for ballots.
Further, the USPS is held accountable by the Postal Regulatory Commission, as well as through congressional oversight, said USPS spokeswoman Cathy Purcell.
“The report’s statements concerning the Postal Service reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the Postal Service’s role, which is to process, transport, and deliver mail, including Election Mail. The Postal Service plays no role in the administration of elections,” Purcell told The Daily Signal.
Part of the problem, noted the Election Integrity Network’s more lengthy report from last week, is the U.S. Postal Service lumps election mail in with all mail, shipped to regional shipping centers that are sometimes out of state where the postmarks are then issued.
Thus, even if a voter mails their ballot on the day of the deadline, it might travel out of state to a distribution center and be postmarked the next day, the report contends.
“The USPS should immediately stop delaying election mail by using the new system, and start handling all of it locally without sending it to the regional processing centers,” the report says.
The report contends the USPS is effectively America’s largest “precinct” because it has the largest number of individuals handling election mail with little or no citizen oversight.
“There are so many problems with the U.S. Postal Service. I don’t think we should have universal mail-in voting with so many vulnerabilities,” Ned Jones, executive director of the Election Integrity Network, told The Daily Signal. “It often leaves the state and comes back. In the processing is where it gets the postmark.”
The report from last week was based on data gathered by the EIN’s Vote-By-Mail/USPS National Working Group, with members from more than 20 states, Jones said.
Purcell said that “state boundaries have nothing to do with the efficient movement of mail.”
She said a Post Office clerk can, when close to an election date, expedite delivery of a ballot to an election office, “without sending the ballot to the processing plant …
Transparency shouldn't be controversial.
The U.S. Postal Service system of handling and delivering mail ballots often leads to rejected or late ballots, election security advocates contend.
The Election Integrity Network issued two recent reports on the handling of mail ballots by postal employees, and the use of regional mail processing centers across state lines. The reports claim that current practices could either result in delayed ballots or confusion over postmarks during an election.
In the 2022 election, 549,824 mail ballots were rejected, about 1.5% of all absentee/mail-in ballots, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission found. Common reasons for rejected ballots include non-matching signatures and missed deadlines.
“From the outside, those are just ‘undeliverable’ or ‘missing’ ballots in a large system,” an Election Integrity Network report released Monday says. “For each voter, it is the loss of the one voice they have in their own government.”
For its part, the U.S. Postal Service counters that local election officials are responsible for matters such as enforcing deadlines, using barcodes, identifying eligible voters, and ensuring correct addresses for ballots.
Further, the USPS is held accountable by the Postal Regulatory Commission, as well as through congressional oversight, said USPS spokeswoman Cathy Purcell.
“The report’s statements concerning the Postal Service reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the Postal Service’s role, which is to process, transport, and deliver mail, including Election Mail. The Postal Service plays no role in the administration of elections,” Purcell told The Daily Signal.
Part of the problem, noted the Election Integrity Network’s more lengthy report from last week, is the U.S. Postal Service lumps election mail in with all mail, shipped to regional shipping centers that are sometimes out of state where the postmarks are then issued.
Thus, even if a voter mails their ballot on the day of the deadline, it might travel out of state to a distribution center and be postmarked the next day, the report contends.
“The USPS should immediately stop delaying election mail by using the new system, and start handling all of it locally without sending it to the regional processing centers,” the report says.
The report contends the USPS is effectively America’s largest “precinct” because it has the largest number of individuals handling election mail with little or no citizen oversight.
“There are so many problems with the U.S. Postal Service. I don’t think we should have universal mail-in voting with so many vulnerabilities,” Ned Jones, executive director of the Election Integrity Network, told The Daily Signal. “It often leaves the state and comes back. In the processing is where it gets the postmark.”
The report from last week was based on data gathered by the EIN’s Vote-By-Mail/USPS National Working Group, with members from more than 20 states, Jones said.
Purcell said that “state boundaries have nothing to do with the efficient movement of mail.”
She said a Post Office clerk can, when close to an election date, expedite delivery of a ballot to an election office, “without sending the ballot to the processing plant …
Largest ‘Precinct’: Why Some Mail Ballots Travel Across State Lines Before Counting Begins
Transparency shouldn't be controversial.
The U.S. Postal Service system of handling and delivering mail ballots often leads to rejected or late ballots, election security advocates contend.
The Election Integrity Network issued two recent reports on the handling of mail ballots by postal employees, and the use of regional mail processing centers across state lines. The reports claim that current practices could either result in delayed ballots or confusion over postmarks during an election.
In the 2022 election, 549,824 mail ballots were rejected, about 1.5% of all absentee/mail-in ballots, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission found. Common reasons for rejected ballots include non-matching signatures and missed deadlines.
“From the outside, those are just ‘undeliverable’ or ‘missing’ ballots in a large system,” an Election Integrity Network report released Monday says. “For each voter, it is the loss of the one voice they have in their own government.”
For its part, the U.S. Postal Service counters that local election officials are responsible for matters such as enforcing deadlines, using barcodes, identifying eligible voters, and ensuring correct addresses for ballots.
Further, the USPS is held accountable by the Postal Regulatory Commission, as well as through congressional oversight, said USPS spokeswoman Cathy Purcell.
“The report’s statements concerning the Postal Service reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the Postal Service’s role, which is to process, transport, and deliver mail, including Election Mail. The Postal Service plays no role in the administration of elections,” Purcell told The Daily Signal.
Part of the problem, noted the Election Integrity Network’s more lengthy report from last week, is the U.S. Postal Service lumps election mail in with all mail, shipped to regional shipping centers that are sometimes out of state where the postmarks are then issued.
Thus, even if a voter mails their ballot on the day of the deadline, it might travel out of state to a distribution center and be postmarked the next day, the report contends.
“The USPS should immediately stop delaying election mail by using the new system, and start handling all of it locally without sending it to the regional processing centers,” the report says.
The report contends the USPS is effectively America’s largest “precinct” because it has the largest number of individuals handling election mail with little or no citizen oversight.
“There are so many problems with the U.S. Postal Service. I don’t think we should have universal mail-in voting with so many vulnerabilities,” Ned Jones, executive director of the Election Integrity Network, told The Daily Signal. “It often leaves the state and comes back. In the processing is where it gets the postmark.”
The report from last week was based on data gathered by the EIN’s Vote-By-Mail/USPS National Working Group, with members from more than 20 states, Jones said.
Purcell said that “state boundaries have nothing to do with the efficient movement of mail.”
She said a Post Office clerk can, when close to an election date, expedite delivery of a ballot to an election office, “without sending the ballot to the processing plant …
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