Posted on 10/24/2021 7:26:29 PM PDT by RandFan
The Virginia Democratic Party filed a lawsuit against the United States Postal Service (USPS) on Friday for allegedly failing to process and deliver election-related mail on time, contending the delays are “threatening to disenfranchise” thousands of voters ahead of next month’s contentious gubernatorial election.
The lawsuit argues that while problems are being observed throughout the commonwealth, the “significant delay in election mail” in Albemarle, Portsmouth and James City counties is “particularly egregious.”
The party is alleging that thousands of ballots delivered to postal facilities by general registrars in those counties are “still outstanding” and have yet to be scanned into USPS’s system.
The plaintiffs said these delays are causing uncertainty regarding whether ballots can be returned in time to be counted.
“Even if these voters do eventually receive their ballots before Election Day, the slowdowns promise that they will not have sufficient time to send them back with assurance that they will arrive in time to be counted,” the lawsuit reads.
“And even if a ballot reaches the appropriate election official before the receipt deadline, if the official identifies any issues with it that require remediation before it may be counted, the voters will have run out of time to rectify the problem,” the lawsuit adds.
The lawsuit — which names Frank Veal, the USPS South Atlantic division director, and Gerald Roane, the USPS Virginia district manager, as plaintiffs — comes less than two weeks before Virginians are scheduled to head to the polls and vote for the next governor of the commonwealth.
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is running to secure a second term as chief of the Old Dominion against Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin. The election is set for Nov. 2.
Recent polls have showed the candidates in a dead heat, in a race seen as a potential harbinger for next year's midterm elections in other battleground states.
Virginians had until Friday to request a mail-in ballot for the race, which must be postmarked on or before Nov. 2 and received by the registrar by noon on the third day after the election.
USPS told The Hill in a statement on Sunday that it is not aware of any ballot processing or delivery delays.
"We are not aware of any processing delays of any ballots within our facilities nor any ballot delivery delays, and we have fully communicated this information to election officials,” a USPS spokesperson said.
“Throughout the election cycle we work closely with state and local election officials and have been addressing any concerns that they raise. Daily sweeps are being conducted in all our Virginia facilities,” the spokesperson added.
The agency said it is “fully committed to fulfilling our important role in the electoral process as a secure, efficient and effective way for citizens to participate when policymakers decide to use mail as part of their election system.”
The Virginia Democratic Party wrote in its lawsuit that based on data from the state Department of Elections, as of Oct. 19 thousands of ballots were “just sitting, unscanned in USPS facilities in Albemarle, James City, and Portsmouth Counties.”
The party said those ballots make up more than a quarter of all ballots voters in those jurisdictions requested.
The Hill reached out to the three counties for comment.
The lawsuit comes amid a year of intense scrutiny on the USPS before and after the 2020 presidential election, when the agency had a weak mail-in ballot delivery rate, according to data reported by CNBC in November.
Elections across the country have seen large number of mail-in ballots because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Youngkin might as well concede...
Good grief
Planning the steal right before our eyes
The Postal folks says...You're full of cr**.
Trying to make a case to lengthen the mail in window past election day.
the Virginia DNC is setting the stage to get an extension on receiving ballots. This is step one. Step two - The Legislature is Democratic and they will use this to extend the date a few days or a week, long enough to do their nefarious election manipulation of ballots. This they are accustomed to doing.
Gee..maybe they should go to paper ballots filled out on election day with ids and purple finger after voting.
Oh, MY! Perhaps the voters should vote in person to eliminate
the possibility of such disenfranchisement. /sarcasm
Simple
Have ruby come over to rescan the ballots that did come on time repeatedly till the one you want to win wins...
..or just order another semi trailer of prefilled out ballots
..or just ignore all deadlines
..or backdate/ forward date ballots
..or just tell folks that vote in person that they all ready voted, give them a provisional ballot and throw away the votes you don’t like
You know, like last time.
Didn’t the Democrats insist last year that nothing could ever go wrong with voting by mail?
Have the Dems checked the condition of the plumbing at the counting centers in those counties? Any chance of a leaky toilet on election day?
Sheesh it cannot get more absurd than this.
That said, it’s a good sign.
This SOB had his 8 years. Time to send him to pasture.
The lawfare begins.
can’t do fake ballots if the post office can’t “stamp” them
Correct.
Lol..greatest post
mail-in voting should be banned
Nailed it.
Yet another reason vote by mail is a bad idea.
You live by the Postal Service, you die by the Postal Service.
You think underpaid postal workers don’t see the border, the prices at the gas pump and at the grocery store?
Don’t expect the rank and file to be your friends libs!
Reality is a Bitch!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.