The U.S. Postal Service sends letters to states warning them that their mail ballots may not be counted in time because their mail voting provisions “do not meet” post-delivery standards. The U.S. Postal Service demonstrated Friday that it had expired that letters raising considerations of the time the ballots were sent to 41 states.
Eight states have been informed that their voting request is “compliant” with the delivery criteria and “must allow sufficient time for the electorate to receive, complete and return those ballots before the post-election voting day deadline.”
Vermont and Washington, D.C. obtained letters stating that they had “enough time” for the electorate to obtain the ballots, but the postal service said it could “fully assess” whether the intended use of mail met delivery standards.
The postal service is facing a currency crisis annoyed by the coronavirus pandemic. Post Office Louis DeJoy said a week ago that the agency’s monetary scenario is “disastrous,” “as a result of a very large drop in mail volume, a corrupted business style, and a control strategy that hasn’t solved those problems well.”
DeJoy warned that Congressional intervention was needed, and a bipartisan organization of senators lobbied for $25 billion in additional investments for the postal service to stay afloat. While President Trump had indicated that he would not make a monetary bailout of the Postal Service, he said Friday that he would “if (Democrats) give us what we want,” which is a relief in payroll taxes and more loans for small businesses. . Training
The letters were sent to the Secretaries of State through the Legal Adviser and Executive Vice President of the Thomas Marshall Postal Service and are dated to the end of July.
Although letters vary from state to state, they warn that states whose voting requests and bidding deadlines are “incongruous” with the postal delivery criteria result in a “change” that “creates a threat that the ballots requested near the state deadline that the law will not be returned by mail in time to be counted in accordance with their legislation as we perceive them.”
The postal service said in a statement: “Some states have reported volumes of mail ten times higher than last year. The postal service is well prepared and has sufficient capacity to deliver U.S. mail. However, the volume accumulation and the effect on the timing of election number one, we want to make sure that the recommendations of the postal service are presented to election officials.”
Meanwhile, the postal service revealed earlier this week that it lost $2.2 billion between April and June. Officials warn the company could face losses of $20 billion in two years. It also reported a $4.5 billion loss during the first quarter, before the full economic effects of the pandemic were evident.
On Friday, former President Obama told his crusade manager, David Plouffe, on the Plouffe podcast that Trump seeks to “actively bring the postal service” to the main office.
Trump has repeated the false statement that mail voting leads to voter fraud, but has asked for a vote by mail in Florida.
“Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Vote by Mail in Florida, the formula is safe, proven and true,” Trump tweeted on August 4. “Florida’s voting formula has been erased (we’ve defeated Democrats’s trying to change.), so in Florida, I encourage everyone to ask for a poll and vote by mail!”
The Trump crusade and the Republican Party are suing Nevada after officials joined several states that plan to automatically send ballots to voters. Two other states, California and Vermont, must adopt a similar policy. Five other states had already followed mail-in voting measures even before the coronavirus pandemic raised face-to-face voting security considerations.
Senator Elizabeth Warren called for an investigation into adjustments to the postal service under DeJoy, who named through Trump. A spokesman for the inspector general showed Friday that they are “making a series of paintings to address the considerations raised. We cannot comment on the main points of the ongoing paintings” of DeJoy’s management.
Musadiq Bidar, Adam Brewster, Sara Cook, Zachary Hudak, Cara Korte, LaCrai Mitchell, Aaron Navarro and Alex Tin contributed to the report.