Democrats question US post office about ballot delivery delays ahead of Election Day
WASHINGTON – A group of Senate Democrats is raising concerns that the U.S. Postal Service's decision to re-route some mail processing may hurt the delivery of mail-in ballots in select states during the 2024 elections, and have broader impact in future political races.
The letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, led by Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., was signed by 19 senators including several representing swing states in the 2024 presidential election: Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Sens. Catherine Cortez-Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia. DeJoy was initially appointed by then-President Donald Trump to lead the agency during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The senators cite a completed consolidation – when local mail processing hubs are combined into a regional one – in Richmond, Va., in which the area’s on-time postal delivery rate dropped nearly 18 percentage points.
“These delays led some local election officials to direct area residents to forego USPS entirely and instead place primary election ballots in designated drop boxes,” they wrote.
The U.S. Postal Service has already completed consolidations in Oregon and in Georgia, the latter of which was won by President Joe Biden in 2020 by only around 12,000 votes – around a quarter of a percentage point.
Consolidation of another 53 mail processing centers has been paused until January 2025, according to USPS. But the senators say that efforts to guarantee on-time delivery of ballots in 2020 and 2022 – including special pick-ups and expedited processing for ballots – “may not be sufficient.”
USPS did not immediately comment to USA TODAY.
Mail-in voting has become a key strategy for both political parties, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic pushed more voters to cast their ballot remotely and a number of states expanded access to mail-in voting. DeJoy came under fire from Democrats in 2020 as sweeping changes he implemented led to major postal delays.
Trump and his allies have previously raised concerns about the security of mail-in voting, though multiple analyses of mail-in voting systems around the country indicate it is a safe and secure way to vote.
However, Trump and the Republican Party are now encouraging supporters to vote by mail. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump say they are encouraging grassroots supporters to explore their voting options. Trump’s campaign is also pushing back on ads from a Democratic Super PAC using Trump’s previous comments to discourage mail-in voting this election cycle.
Democrats and aligned Super PACs invested big in encouraging mail-in voting in 2020, resulting in significant Democratic voter turnout in that election.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democrats fear ballot delivery delays from US post office changes
