MINNEAPOLIS — State and local election officials from across the country on Wednesday warned that problems with the nation’s mail delivery system threaten to disenfranchise voters in the upcoming presidential election, telling the head of the U.S. Postal Service that it hasn’t fixed persistent deficiencies.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon is one of dozens of signatures on a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Wednesday.
The officials said that over the past year, including the just-concluded primary season, mailed ballots that were postmarked on time were received by local election offices days after the deadline to be counted. They also noted that properly addressed election mail was being returned to them as undeliverable, a problem that could automatically send voters to inactive status through no fault of their own, potentially creating chaos when those voters show up to cast a ballot.
"You're correct in regards to the service deteriorating, we recognize that," said DeJoy in a U.S. Senate hearing back in April. "We apologized."
Simon predicts up to 30% of Minnesotans will vote by mail in November that starts already on September 20. He's urging voters to do it early — as many of the problems are ones the postal service hasn't fixed for years.
"It's really crucially important that the U.S. Postal Service be on top of their game in the coming weeks," said Simon, who called the letter rare.
"It's pretty rare that you get this many election officials — nationwide, from coast to coast — of varying political parties, not only agreeing on an issue, but speaking in the kind of blunt language that we spoke," said Simon.
He admits problems here are minimal. In a statement, the Minnesota/North Dakota & Wisconsin Districts USPS spokesperson Desai Abdul-Razzaaq wrote, "Regarding Election Mail and ballots, the Postal Service is aware of one ballot in Polk County, mailed using a non-standard envelope and inadvertently delivered to the wrong county. There are no known delays in Minnesota. For FY24 Q4 to date (which includes the recent Minnesota primary on August 13), 94.5% of First-Class Election Mail ballots were delivered within a day of the service standard. The average days to deliver an election mail piece was only 1.5 days.
The Postal Service is committed to the timely and secure delivery of Election Mail. We are working in close coordination with election officials around the country, including in Minnesota. In 2024, just as we have in previous elections, we will fulfill our role in the electoral process when public policy makers choose to utilize the mail as a part of their election system or when voters choose to utilize our services to participate in an election."
Simon says most of the problems are impacting California, New York and New Jersey, although an audit this summer prompted Minnesota lawmakers to hold mail management accountable. The Office of the Inspector General found widespread issues with USPS management in Minnesota, citing nearly 100,000 pieces of delayed mail in the facilities they visited on one day alone.
"Every voter who chooses to use the mail to help them vote should have timely service, and accurate service and we hope they take that very much seriously," said Simon.
The Postal Service has been undergoing rapid changes, including the opening of large hubs, but some of those changes are being paused before the election to ensure they don’t interfere with performance, DeJoy said. And it will be all hands on deck to ensure the millions of mail-in ballots are delivered swiftly to their destinations.
Abdul-Razzaaq also wrote in his statement that the Postal Service is "once again deploying longstanding processes and procedures to securely and timely move the nation’s Election Mail. Starting in January, the Postal Service began daily “all clear” sweeps in facilities to make sure that ballots are delivered timely throughout the entire election season.
Further, the Postal Service will allocate additional resources, including, but not limited to, expanded processing procedures, extra transportation, extra delivery and collection trips, and overtime, to ensure that Election Mail reaches its intended destination in a timely manner."
To vote by mail in Minnesota, you apply to have an absentee ballot mailed to you. For more information on making sure your ballot counts, click here.