Election Officials Demand Action: Ensure Reliable Mail Delivery Now

After weeks of intense presidential election drama, the spotlight at the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) conference in Minneapolis was unexpectedly on snail mail.

Election officials expressed deep frustration to a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) representative on Tuesday, accusing the agency of failing to deliver ballots on time. They stressed that these delays could potentially impact election outcomes.

“You have to be better. The actual elections are being determined by these delays,” Bryan Caskey, Kansas’ election director, told Steve Carter, the USPS official overseeing election and government mail programs.

NASED meets biannually and, with the presidential election approaching, mail voting was a major concern for nearly all attendees. These experts in election administration highlighted severe issues with mail delivery that they felt warranted urgent attention.

Carter admitted he couldn’t provide specific answers to many of the concerns raised. He didn’t specify when enhanced postal services for election mail would commence and advised officials to contact local USPS customer relations, despite complaints that these contacts often provided insufficient answers.

While Carter asserted improvements citing a 97.3% on-time delivery rate for ballots during the 2022 midterms, election officials like Caskey remained unsatisfied. “It still leaves a significant proportion of improperly delivered or undelivered ballots,” Caskey noted, indicating potential disenfranchisement risks.

Criticism also targeted USPS plans to implement special measures in late October, just weeks before Election Day. “Why are we waiting till late October?” asked New Hampshire’s election director, Patricia Piecuch, pointing out that ballots are sent much earlier.

Carter explained that extraordinary measures are reserved for peak activity periods. Sensing Piecuch’s dissatisfaction, he offered to discuss New Hampshire’s specific issues separately.

Concerns about mail delivery have persisted since the 2020 election. A federal judge found that changes made by U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy contributed to slower mail delivery before that election. Despite this, similar issues are prevalent nationwide. A group of 18 Democratic senators recently sought clarification from DeJoy on ensuring timely mail delivery.

Monica Evans, Director of the Washington, D.C., Board of Elections, shared her troubling experience of never receiving her mailed ballot. Despite her position, Evans had to request a new ballot or vote in person. She stressed that not all voters would have known to do this, potentially losing their chance to vote.

Election officials vowed to continue pressing the USPS for improvements but recognized that changes within such a large, under-resourced organization might not come swiftly.

This article was originally published by Arizonanews.org.