“Multiple states [have] received communications from the USPS general counsel … warning secretaries of state” that it can’t “guarantee that mail-in ballots will be received in time to be counted,” CNN reported on Friday, Aug. 14, 2020.
Mail deliveries slowed significantly after Trump put a loyalist and major donor with alleged conflicts of interest in charge of the Postal Service. Democrats have accused Trump of trying to sabotage November mail voting to help himself get re-elected. But the letters were sent before Louis DeJoy was selected to be Postmaster General, and he claims the slowdowns are “unintended consequences” of a restructuring he asserts is necessary because of the Postal Service’s “dire” financial condition, made worse by the Covid-19 crisis.
Trump, who votes absentee, vocally argues, “Absentee good, mail voting bad.” He frequently repeats false claims that mail voting leads to election fraud, but there’s no evidence it does, and voting fraud of any kind is extremely rare.
Sources: Here (CNN), here (KEYT TV, the ABC affiliate in Santa Barbara, CA), here (CNBC), and here (NBC News).
Photo: Is this what a revamped mail system will look like under Trump?
“The popularity of voting by mail has exploded during the pandemic and it’s expected that Democratic voters plan to take advantage of expanded mail-in voting access more than Republicans.”
“News of the letters comes a little less than two weeks after the US Postal Service definitively said in a statement that it had the capacity to handle the added volume of mail-in voting anticipated in November.” – CNN
This is the same set of warnings (perhaps a bit louder) the post office puts out before every Federal Election. Particularly Presidential elections. In some states absentee ballots postmarked before or on election day count. This has caused delay in county clerks announcing the winner in some races for several days, and usually they get all the possible ballots with in three business days. Individual county clerks may ignor ballots that arrive after election day, and as long as the difference in a race is greater than the number of mailed ballots it will not affect the outcome.
In other states the ballot must be received on election day, and sometimes by a specific time, something that is not high on the post offices agenda. As well as getting ballots from overseas to the appropriate county clerk before any other mail. Anyone using mail in balloting or absentee in many states unless they mail the ballot 5 days beore the election risk their county clerk receiving it after election ay and the clerk placing the ballot in the circular file. The only rational method is for ballots post marked on or before election day to count even if it takes 6 weeks for the ballot to get to the clerks office even if sent by packet ship. This is why clerks have a significant amount of time to certify their numbers to the Secretary of State and for the Secretary to certify the elections. Though the clerk does that for the local stuff.
If voters in other states use mail in ballots wait too long to mail the ballot their ballot will not count. If Republicans are better at these kinds of consideration fewer of their votes will arrive late at the clerks office.
You should read up on Trump’s efforts to sabotage mail-in voting before the election. He’s unique in that regard. No other president has done that.