State and local authorities warn that delays in ballot mail could disempower voters

Washington — State and local election officials in nearly half of all states warned the U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday that ongoing problems with the delivery of election mail could lead to voters losing their right to vote, and urged the service to quickly fix the deficiencies before the presidential election.

In the letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, leaders of several groups representing election officials expressed concerns about the Postal Service's performance in the run-up to Election Day on Nov. 5. The letter said election officials had expressed doubts last year about the service's ability to deliver election mail on time and accurately.

Officials said that while there had been “multiple contacts” with the Postal Service, they had not seen “improvement or concerted efforts” to address their concerns. Millions of voters are expected to cast their ballots by mail in the weeks leading up to Election Day.

“State and local election officials need a committed partner in USPS,” the officials wrote. “We urge you to take immediate, concrete corrective action to address the ongoing performance issues with USPS Election Mail Service. Failure to do so risks limiting voter participation and confidence in the election process.”

Adrienne Marshall, director of election mail and government services at the USPS, said in a statement that the USPS is “ready to deliver.”

“In 2020, we succeeded in delivering a historic amount of mail-in ballots; the same will be true in 2022 and will happen again in November 2024,” she said.

State and local officials said that despite efforts in recent years to stress the importance of voters requesting and returning mail-in ballots early, local officials in nearly all states are still receiving postmarked ballots in time after Election Day, the deadline in many states. Election officials said that in several states, “dozens to hundreds of ballots” were received at least 10 days after they were postmarked.

“The USPS’s inability to meet its own service deadlines cannot be offset by any amount of proactive communication from election officials,” they wrote.

The Postal Service said: “On average, mail delivery currently takes 2.7 days. However, for common sense reasons, we continue to recommend that voters mail their completed ballots before Election Day and at least one week before the deadline in their state.”

Election officials also told DeJoy that mail sent to voters is being marked undeliverable at a higher than average rate, even when the voter has not moved. The problem affects a range of election mail, including mail containing voting information, voter address confirmation cards and absentee ballots. Officials said in other cases, ballots sent to election offices are being returned to the voter as undeliverable.

Mail-in ballots returned to an election office could trigger a process under federal law that could result in a voter being considered inactive and having to take additional steps to confirm their address in order to vote in the upcoming election, state and local officials said. The increase in undeliverable mail could result in voters who do not receive ballots losing their right to vote or having their voter registration canceled, they said.

In addition to concerns about the delivery of election mail, officials said USPS staff are not aware of the service's policies, resulting in “inconsistent instructions” being given to election officials or ballots being intentionally withheld, delayed or improperly processed.

The frequency of training problems, it said, “makes it clear that these are not one-off errors or problems with specific facilities. Rather, they demonstrate a widespread lack of understanding and enforcement of USPS policies among employees.”

The letter was sent by the National Association of State Election Directors, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the heads of local election associations on behalf of election officials across the country.

Appointed during the Trump administration, DeJoy came under scrutiny for mail delivery delays before the 2020 election. The Census Bureau reported in April 2021 that 69% of voters cast their ballots either by mail or before Election Day, the highest rate of nontraditional voting since 1996.

Although the 2020 election took place amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Republicans and Democrats continued to urge their supporters to vote early.

Even former President Donald Trump, who claimed that mail-in voting led to voter fraud, said last month that mail-in voting and early voting are “good options.”