U.S. judge orders USPS to reinforce 'extraordinary measures' ballot delivery policy

Reuters ^ | November 1, 2020 | David Shepardson

[Coronal]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) must remind senior managers they must follow its “extraordinary measures” policy and use its Express Mail Network to expedite ballots ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election, under an order signed by a U.S. judge.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan’s order on Sunday, to which the USPS agreed, said the postal service must reinforce its “special procedures” to ensure it “delivers every ballot possible by the cutoff time on Election Day.”

USPS will also reinforce to managers that “all ballots with a local destination must be cleared and processed on the same day or no later than the next morning for delivery to local offices, from now through at least November 7.”

Sullivan, of U.S. District Court in Washington, on Friday had ordered USPS to adopt “extraordinary measures” at numerous processing locations to ensure the timely delivery of millions of ballots before Tuesday’s presidential election.

[Sacajaweau]

ballots are a special size and color and will be delivered in bulk. What is the gd problem.

[jeffc]

Sullivan?! Isn’t he busy trying to railroad an innocent man into jail?

[niteowl]

So sez the swamp-dweller judge in Micheal Flynn’s case? Isn’t he busy enuough?

[DoughtyOne]

Judges enforce gun laws to make citizens safe.

Therefore they wind up defenseless.

Judge voices great concerns about the USPS, and admonishes...

Therefore the USPS will do exactly what it planned to all along.

Judges, not always as much a help as they think they are...

[Vermont Lt]

Because the Post Office wasn’t taking this all seriously.

//sar

These guys and their drama make me laugh.

[jeffc]

... and what's with this "November 7th" stuff?

Does this mean ballots received and postmarked through 11/7 must be counted? So the Dems will know how many votes to fake and make up to push Sleepy Joe across the finish line?

[Charles Martel]

Which U.S. Code article (as pertains to the USPS) was the judge referencing in his ruling? Or was he just bloviating?

[Revel]

This is old news now. I posted it sometime back when it happened. Nothing has been done about this abuse of power either.

[Vinnie]

Postmark Question..
I don’t see a postmark on much of my mail.
Which brings up the question..
Are ballots specifically going to be postmarked?
How are election officials going to tell whether a ballot was mailed on or before Nov 3rd.?

[frnewsjunkie]

I got my absentee ballot in my mailbox delivered by the mail carrier.

To get it, I gave my name, address, phone, SS and driver’s license number.

I filled it out, signed it and put it in the mailbox. 2 days later I received notice that my ballot had been received.

[WASCWatch]

If the USPS is taking all necessary steps as to insure the integrity of mail in and absentee by ordering senior management to make sure everything is on the up and up, that’s a good thing. Senior managers are far less likely to risk being fired and prosecuted for election fraud.

[Svartalfiar]

Postmark Question..
I don’t see a postmark on much of my mail.
Which brings up the question..
Are ballots specifically going to be postmarked?
How are election officials going to tell whether a ballot was mailed on or before Nov 3rd.?

A lot of mail isn't postmarked, generally because it's prepaid or bulk specialties etc. But that was one of the big questions earlier this year - USPS isn't used to handling huge numbers of ballots, and I think doesn't always postmark them. So there was a question of is they would be able to change their process reliably enough to actually manage to do that for all ballots. So yes, they're supposedly making sure they postmark all ballots, but it'll be questionable on how effective they are, and what the process will be for States that receive any ballots late that have no postmark - likely some judge will change the law to force the State to accept them anyway.

[Vinnie]

Thanks

[Brown Deer]

https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/federal-judge-orders-usps-to-conduct-election-day-sweeps-to-ensure-ballots-are-not-delayed-in-key-battleground-states/