More than 150,000 Ballots were Caught in U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Processing Facilities and Not Delivered by Election Day, Agency Data shows, including more than 12,000 in Five of the States that have yet to be Called for either Trump or Democratic Challenger, Joe Biden.
Despite Assurances from Postal Service Leaders that Agency Officials were Conducting Daily Sweeps for Misplaced Ballots, the USPS Acknowledged in a Court Filing that Thousands of Ballots had Not been Processed in Time, and that More Ballots were Processed, Wednesday Nov. 4th than on Election Day, Nov.3rd.
The Nnumber of Mailed Ballots the USPS did Not Deliver by Election Day is expected to Grow as more Data is released in the coming days. Some Election Experts worry such Delays could run up against even more generous Ballot Acceptance Windows that some States have granted.
In several Swing States, Late Ballots will still be Counted as Long as they were Postmarked by Election Day and received by:
NC - Nov. 6th, 2,958 Ballots arrived after Election Day.
NV - Nov. 10th, 4,518 Ballots arrived after Election Day.
PA - Nov. 6th, 3,439 Ballots arrived after Election Day.
AZ - Where 864 Ballots were Delayed and did Not reach Election Officials by Nov. 3rd will be Disqualified.
GA - Where 853 Ballots were Delayed and did Not reach Election Officials by Nov. 3rd will be Disqualified.
It is Unclear whether Undelivered Ballots would have made a Difference in deciding the Presidential Election. But the Delivery Failures highlight the Risks in relying on the USPS to Deliver Ballots close to Election Day.
In the Nine Postal Districts spanning thev Five States that have yet to Decide the Presidential Race, the On-Time Rate was 84.6%. That means roughly 15 out of every 100 Ballots in Processing Plants were Not Sorted or Delivered in time.
USPOS said: “The Postal Service is required by law to deliver all mail that is deposited in our system. We cannot control when voters choose to mail their completed ballots, but we implemented extraordinary measures to ensure ballots were, and continue to be, delivered to the boards of elections as quickly as possible,”.
On Election Day, Postal Workers were Instructed to Submit Ballots more Directly to Vote Counters, bypassing the Processing Plants reflected in the Data submitted Thursday to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Sullivan is Overseeing One of Several Voting Rights Lawsuits filed in the Aftermath of the USPS’s well-documented Service Declines. But the Delivery Numbers Alarmed Civil Rights Advocates, who say that the USPS was a Vital and unavoidable Component of Election Infrastructure for Millions of Americans in the Midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
The USPS Aggregates Bar Code Tracking Scans for a Ballot’s Point of Origin and Destination into One Report, meaning Ballots that Travel within the same Postal District are Counted Twice. In Analyzing the Data, The Washington Post Counted every Ballot only Once, since the Vast Majority of Ballots are sent Locally. In addition, because some Postal Districts straddle State Lines, the Numbers in each State Represent the Upward Boundary of if every Ballot from Districts that Overlap were included in either State.
The USPS Reported to Congress that it had Processed 135 Million Ballots since Sept. 4th, including Blank Ballots from Election Officials to Voters, and Completed Ballots being Returned to Vote Counters.
More than Half of the Late Ballots processed Wednesday were in California, with 25,000 in San Diego Alone. Another 16,000 were in the Bay-Valley Postal District just South of San Francisco and 25,000 more were in the Sacramento and Los Angeles Districts. Those Ballots can arrive up to 17 Days after the Election and still be Counted, according to Extensions of State Law because of the Pandemic.
In 10% of the Reports, the USPS either found Ballots that should have been Processed, Failed to Complete the Check, or did Not Report the Results.
The Agency has Published the Results of only One Ballot Sweep in the Entire Election Cycle. It Reported to Judge Sullivan, on Wednesday, that it found 815 Ballots in the Texas Processing Plants.
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