by Ned Jones
A new audit released last month from the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General confirmed that many USPS facilities are failing to follow proper Election Mail procedures. These USPS service problems threaten the security of votes cast by mail in the upcoming election.
The independent USPS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducts “audits, evaluations, research, and investigations” to fulfill its “mission of ensuring efficiency, accountability, and integrity in the U.S. Postal Service.” In November 2023, the OIG commenced a self-initiated audit of “Election Mail Readiness for the 2024 General Election.” The audit aimed “to evaluate the Postal Service’s readiness for the timely processing and delivery of Election and Political Mail for the 2024 general election,” and was conducted at “15 judgmentally selected mail processing facilities and 35 delivery units located in 13 states and Puerto Rico during primary elections in February and March 2024,” according to the report.
The audit’s findings identified three primary areas of concern, stating that “opportunities exist for the Postal Service to improve readiness for timely processing and delivery of Election and Political Mail for the 2024 general election,” with only around three months to go until Election Day.
Lack of Compliance With Election Mail and Political Mail Policies
The first finding detailed how postal service personnel were not complying with certain Election and Political Mail policies and procedures. According to the report, the USPS has developed an “Election Mail and Political Mail Guidebook,” that “provides employees with many of the key resources that explain the longstanding, special-handling procedures required to facilitate the timely processing and delivery of Election Mail and Political Mail.” The guidebook, according to the report, outlines how postal employees must certify that their facility is clear of Election and Political Mail every morning and how they must “correctly document the Election and Political Mail arrivals in the log.”
However, according to the report, “over half of the delivery units and processing facilities … visited were not properly completing the all clear certifications or maintaining the Election and Political Mail Logs.” The audit also found that “personnel at processing facilities did not complete the daily audit checklists as required by policy,” with “some personnel … inaccurately marking items as completed.”
These findings could negatively affect USPS services, and they are indicative of a lack of understanding and training with respect to Election and Political Mail policy and procedures.
“Without full compliance, implementation, and a clear understanding of the Election and Political Mail policies and procedures,” the report states, “there is a risk of improper handling, untimely processing, and late delivery of Election and Political Mail.”
‘Operational Risks’ To ‘Timely Processing and Delivery of Election Mail’
A second audit finding detailed how “operational risks” could “delay timely processing and delivery of Election Mail.” Specifically, the audit revealed “inconsistent election day coordination, a lack of processes to segregate Election Mail out of Postal Automated Redirection System (PARS) Mail, and confusion around postmarking.”
According to the report, in eight of the 14 facilities observed on primary Election Day, “between one and 82 ballots” did not make it to the election office “on time to be counted.” The report cited various “contributing elements” for this, including “[f]our mail processing facilities [that] did not have any processes to separate out ballots during primary election day for expedited processing,” and “[d]elivery units [that] did not coordinate with two mail processing facilities about ballots going to board of election offices on primary election day.”
What’s more, some facilities also appeared to lack proper understanding regarding postmarking policies. Even though the USPS aims to put a postmark on every ballot return envelope “during elections,” the investigation found that “personnel at seven of 15 (47 percent) mail processing facilities did not know postmarking policy, and personnel at eight of 35 (23 percent) delivery units did not know postmarking policy,” and that “some of these offices reported that they would execute postmarking in ways that were outside of policy.”
Such issues could have already contributed to election mix-ups. As previously reported in The Federalist, ballots mailed in Southern Utah were sent to a processing center in Las Vegas, Nevada. But many of the ballots were not processed in time to meet the postmark deadline, and therefore could not be counted in Utah’s June primary. Election officials have reportedly guessed the delay was due to the distance between where the ballots were mailed by voters and where they were allegedly processed in Las Vegas. The election was certified without resolving the problem, but, after a lawsuit was filed, the matter is now being resolved by the courts.
Although the particular incident in Utah is not discussed in the report, the concerns raised by the audit’s second finding not only bring into question the “timely” delivery of ballots, but, again, they indicate a lack of understanding and training with respect to Election and Political Mail policy and procedures.
New USPS Operations Could Threaten Election Security
The third audit finding is arguably the most critical, with the most significant implications surrounding the USPS’s ability to process and deliver Election and Political Mail for the 2024 general election.
In what sane world does a huge Union (that takes a side in the election) have control of distributing, collecting and protecting our ballots?
In Utah we found a huge pile, probably at least six full boxes, of ballots that were never counted.
They were found in a ditch.
They all came from heavily Republican precincts.
Ultimately it didn’t make a difference – this time.
But postal workers will try, try again until it does.
So, while the left wants expanded if not universal voting by mail, they have given no thought to making sure the central element of such a process, the USPS, is functionally up to the task. In every case, all that seems to matter to the left is the opportunity to commit fraud where necessary.
I guess it’s not enough anymore to simply delay the mailing of ballots to overseas military personnel so that their largely Republican votes cannot be returned in time.