Battleground postal delays persist with mail voting underway

The Associated Press ^ | October 23, 2020 | By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE

[Oldeconomybuyer]

U.S. Postal Service records show delivery delays have persisted across the country as millions of Americans are voting by mail, raising the possibility of ballots being rejected because they arrive too late.

Postal data through Oct. 9, the latest numbers available, show nearly all the agency’s delivery regions missing its target of having at least 95% of first-class mail arrive within five days. Parts of the presidential battleground states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio fell short of delivery goals by wide margins as the agency struggles to regain its footing after a tumultuous summer.

The districts that included the major urban areas and their suburbs in each of those states all performed below the national average for on-time delivery, with the area around Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania the lone exception.

The delays are a worrisome sign for voters who still have not returned their absentee ballots. That is especially true in states such as Michigan, where ballots must be received by Election Day. Other states require a postmark by Nov. 3.

“We do encourage people who are worried about ballots not getting here on time to get them in as soon as possible,” said Perry County Commissioner Brenda Watson in Pennsylvania.

She said her office has sent out more than 600,000 absentee ballots, more than double the number from the primary, and has extended office hours so staff can monitor a drop box.

With more than 2.9 million mail-in ballots requested in Pennsylvania, on-time delivery is crucial. But delays are lingering throughout the state, according to postal data released as part of a federal court order.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

[I still care]

Shocked, shocked, I tell you. BTW, just got my postal union paper. They told me to vote Biden Harris in big letters.

[Steve_Seattle]

Since the postal union is pro-Biden, I wonder what the chances are of them slow-walking the ballots in order to create anti-Trump sentiment?

[Oneanddone]

I’ve been waiting for a package from Michigan mailed out over 35 days ago. Maybe I should go to Michigan and check all the ditches and dumpsters.

[ConservativeInPA]

Urban areas? What am I missing here? This would be good for Republicans, I would think. With that said, vote by mail is a disaster. Go back to what has worked for well over 200 years. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

[pfflier]

I think their plan is to create lawsuit material to challenge the final vote because of the "delays".

The dims have lost most of the extensions in court. Now we will hear about the poor and minorities being disenfranchised unless the deadlines are extended blah, blah, blah...

[gandalftb]

The PO is slow-walking the mail to bring attention to their constant need for funding.
..............
It’s called a tantrum, holding their breath and stomping their feet.
.............
They are in a slow down strike.
............
Anytime they want, they could refuse all the shiite mail that I get from Geico and AARP, etc. for 2 weeks before a national election.
..........
Then they would have all the capacity they want.........anybody though of that? How about stopping Saturday deliveries?

[Pajamajan]

Battleground postal delays persist with mail voting CHEATING underway,

[nhbob1]

I’m sure there are a lot of shenanigans. Since they are battlefields, there are probably entire forests being consumed for paper to print all the campaign mailings being sent there. Just increasing the load and chaos.

[shanover]

The plan is to harvest votes,destroy our votes and delay/prolong the entire process into chaos to ultimately have a hail Mary of winning via courts.

[robowombat]

My letter carrier, who detests Biden and his party, says he thinks much of the very large increase in is from merchants increasing advertisement by mail as they calculate there are a lot of bored people who will respond to their adds.