{"id":2316629,"date":"2024-07-31T11:21:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T15:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-usps-practices-threaten-biggest-voting-precinct\/"},"modified":"2024-07-31T11:31:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T15:31:30","slug":"new-usps-practices-threaten-biggest-voting-precinct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-usps-practices-threaten-biggest-voting-precinct\/","title":{"rendered":"New USPS Practices Threaten Biggest Voting &#8216;Precinct&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnew-usps-practices-threaten-biggest-voting-precinct%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2316629&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses significant concerns regarding the \u200bU.S. Postal\u2062 Service (USPS) and its ability to handle vote-by-mail ballots in the upcoming elections, \u2062particularly in light of problems reported during recent primaries. Since the 2020 elections, USPS has \u2064become a crucial part of the electoral process, yet\u200d it has\u200b faced challenges that raise doubts about its preparedness for the \u200cvolume of mail-in ballots\u2062 expected in November.<\/p>\n<p>A recent incident in Utah\u2064 highlighted these issues when a significant \u200cnumber of mailed ballots \u200dwere not processed in time, leading to \u2063many being deemed ineligible to vote.\u200b This situation\u2062 illustrates\u200d a broader concern involving the USPS&#8217;s restructuring initiatives, such as the &#8220;Delivering \u2062for America&#8221; program, \u2064which \u200baims for financial sustainability but \u200chas reportedly decreased service quality.<\/p>\n<p>Two\u200c key aspects\u2062 contributing to\u2062 these service\u2063 issues are the\u2062 consolidation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-propose-bipartisan-bill-to-tackle-border-crisis\/\" title=\"Lawmakers propose bipartisan bill to tackle border crisis\">regional processing centers<\/a> and the introduction of the \u200dLocal Transportation Optimization initiative, \u200dwhich \u200bhas caused delays in mail handling. These changes complicate the timely\u2063 processing of election \u2063mail and may exacerbate problems \u200din future elections.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, investigations from the USPS Office of Inspector General have \u2064uncovered these systemic flaws and highlighted the lack of transparency regarding USPS\u200c operations,\u200b which threatens the integrity \u200cof\u2063 mail-in voting. The \u200darticle \u2063emphasizes that the complexities of\u200b USPS operations make it challenging to maintain accurate records regarding ballot \u2063delivery \u2064and tracking, raising further \u2064concerns about election integrity in light of potential misrouting\u2064 and misdelivery of\u200d ballots.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Since the 2020 Covid election, the USPS has effectively become the largest &ldquo;precinct&rdquo; in our elections with little citizen observation. But recent incidents, reports from the USPS Office of the Inspector General, and independent investigations have revealed that the USPS may not be prepared to handle the volume of vote-by-mail ballots this November.<\/p>\n<p>As recently <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/11\/utah-voters-say-their-votes-were-tossed-after-usps-routed-ballots-to-vegas\/?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=daily_election_briefing_198_democrats_vote_against_bill_to_keep_foreign_nationals_out_of_american_elections&amp;utm_term=2024-07-11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> in The Federalist<em>, <\/em>the USPS Election Mail system apparently created a major problem in the June primary election in Utah. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/utah\/2024\/07\/08\/late-postmarked-ballots-utah-2nd-district-primary\/#:~:text=The%20campaign%20of%202nd%20Congressional,postmarked%20after%20the%20state's%20deadline.\">According<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/group-our-vote-matters-is-suing-facebook-dominion-mark-zuckerberg-certain-state-officials-others-for-infringing-upon-right-to-vote-assemble-and-speak-freely-you-can-jo\/\" title=\"Group \u201cOur Vote Matters\u201d Is Suing Facebook, Dominion, Mark Zuckerberg, Certain State Officials, Others for Infringing Upon Right to Vote, Assemble and Speak Freely \u2013 You Can Join Too\">local election officials<\/a>, hundreds of ballots that were purportedly mailed before the vote-by-mail cut-off were not processed by USPS in time to meet the &ldquo;postmark&rdquo; deadline, making those ballots ineligible to be counted in the election.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This incident in Utah is a symptom of a nationwide problem with the USPS Election Mail system.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, the USPS announced its &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/about.usps.com\/what\/strategic-plans\/delivering-for-america\/\">Delivering for America<\/a>&rdquo; program, a &ldquo;ten-year plan&rdquo; that aims to restructure the flow of mail &ldquo;to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence.&rdquo; After three years, the program has reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/about.usps.com\/what\/strategic-plans\/delivering-for-america\/assets\/usps-dfa-two-year-report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reduced<\/a> costs. However, in many areas where the restructuring was implemented, there seem to have been some dramatic decreases in service. Two elements of the program are likely contributing to this decline.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Regional Processing Centers<\/h2>\n<p>The first element is that the USPS is in the process of <a href=\"https:\/\/about.usps.com\/what\/strategic-plans\/delivering-for-america\/assets\/USPS_Delivering-For-America.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">consolidating<\/a> its regional mail processing centers. Many of these <a href=\"https:\/\/about.usps.com\/what\/strategic-plans\/delivering-for-america\/assets\/USPS_Delivering-For-America.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">regions<\/a> include large sections of multiple neighboring states. (Grassroots activists at Save The Post Office charted known Regional Processing and Distribution centers on a map <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2024\/07\/localimages\/61-Regions-RPDCs-scaled.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.) The <a href=\"https:\/\/about.usps.com\/what\/government-services\/election-mail\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Postal Service&rsquo;s<\/a> &ldquo;policy is to postmark all ballots mailed by voters,&rdquo; although there are strict requirements in most states that ballots be mailed and processed by a specific deadline. These postmarks can only be applied to Election Mail by USPS processing equipment. Many vote-by-mail ballot envelopes are processed at a USPS regional center &mdash; which means that in some cases, ballots from one state are sent to a center in a different, neighboring state to be processed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the Utah vote-by-mail mix-up, ballots that were reportedly mailed on time in Utah were likely sent to the nearest USPS regional center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Election officials have <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/11\/utah-voters-say-their-votes-were-tossed-after-usps-routed-ballots-to-vegas\/?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=daily_election_briefing_198_democrats_vote_against_bill_to_keep_foreign_nationals_out_of_american_elections&amp;utm_term=2024-07-11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">guessed<\/a> that because the ballots took a day to travel the approximately 340 miles from southern Utah to Las Vegas and back, many were likely postmarked after the deadline making them ineligible to be counted in the primary election.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Similar substantial mix-ups could happen all over the country in the coming November election.<\/p>\n<h2>Ballots Delayed at Local Post Offices<\/h2>\n<p>The second element is a new initiative established per the project&rsquo;s goal of &ldquo;redesign[ing] surface transportation network.&rdquo; This &ldquo;Local Transportation Optimization initiative&rdquo; (LTO) aims to &ldquo;reduce the overall number of transportation trips between sorting facilities and delivery units&rdquo; by creating more efficiently processable loads, but &mdash; at least in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uspsoig.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/2024-04\/23-161-1-r24.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Richmond<\/a>, Virginia, a location where the initiative was initially launched &mdash; this meant mail was held at delivery units beyond the day it was &ldquo;collected.&rdquo; This builds in additional delays in a system already suffering from service problems.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The issues with this new procedure were outlined in an April audit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uspsoig.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/2024-04\/23-161-1-r24.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a> from the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General analyzing LTO operations in Richmond. According to the findings in the report, although the audit did not &ldquo;isolate the service impact of Local Transportation Optimization,&rdquo; findings did show that &ldquo;service performance decreased significantly in the weeks following implementation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Although service performance improved after peak mailing season concluded in January, it was still below levels compared to the same period last year for all mail classes,&rdquo; the report continued.<\/p>\n<p>The Richmond LTO report also included a discussion of how the initiative was projected to affect Election Mail. According to the report, the USPS &ldquo;provide[d] instructions in February 2024 on how the affected sites in the Richmond region should handle Election Mail.&rdquo; Per this guidance, vote-by-mail ballots are to &ldquo;remain at facilities overnight unless it is within four days of the election.&rdquo; During the four days leading up to and including the Election Day processing deadline, &ldquo;local management will collect any ballots received that day and transport them in the evening to a hub for processing rather than letting them remain at the facility overnight.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Although USPS officials &ldquo;stated they do not anticipate the initiative will impact the timely processing or delivery of ballot mail&rdquo; at locations where LTO is implemented, as of April, the USPS had yet to produce &ldquo;a documented national policy on how to handle Election Mail and ballots at post offices affected by [LTO].&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Since it was initially launched, the initiative has been rolled out in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.savethepostoffice.com\/postal-service-to-end-evening-collection-at-thousands-of-post-offices\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">other<\/a> locations. Whether or not the LTO initiative contributed to the mail ballot fiasco in Utah, it&rsquo;s easy to imagine how the practice and the lack of &ldquo;documented national&rdquo; guidance regarding Election Mail could cause similar problems for voters around the country.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Researching the Problems<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The USPS Office of the Inspector General has been investigating and reporting on problems with the &ldquo;Delivering for America&rdquo; program. The Richmond regional center was a &ldquo;pilot&rdquo; location for the plan. The rollout in 2023 was a disaster, and the Office of the Inspector General conducted an investigation followed by a critical <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uspsoig.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/2024-04\/23-161-r24.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a> in March regarding Richmond operations.<strong> <\/strong>The office of the USPS <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/flashback-former-ag-barr-initiated-spying-program-on-americans-back-in-1992\/\" title=\"FLASHBACK: Former AG Barr Initiated Spying Program on Americans Back in 1992\">inspector general<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uspsoig.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/2024-04\/23-161-1-r24.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">continued<\/a> to investigate major problems with Richmond&rsquo;s &ldquo;Delivering for America&rdquo; LTO initiative &mdash; problems which, as previously mentioned, could dramatically affect the election this fall &mdash; with the second report in April.<\/p>\n<p>Both reports mention how the USPS was &ldquo;handling Election Mail for local elections&rdquo; while &ldquo;simultaneously&rdquo; implementing LTO and &ldquo;making changes&rdquo; to the regional processing and distribution centers.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the lack of transparency by the USPS, the problems with &ldquo;Delivering for America&rdquo; compound the many vulnerabilities in the USPS Election Mail system that citizen researchers like myself have raised concerns about.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the USPS does not have the same ballot &ldquo;chain of custody&rdquo; as those required in every election precinct. The USPS receives trays of ballots from election offices, and the complexities of a mass mail system make it challenging if not impossible to accurately keep track of how many ballots are delivered to voters, how many are undeliverable and returned to the election office, or how many get misrouted or misdelivered. &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eac.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/electionofficials\/QuickStartGuides\/Ballot_Reconciliation_Election%20Day_EAC_Quick_Start_Guide_508.pdf\">Reconciliation<\/a>&rdquo; &mdash; or tracking &mdash; to determine how many ballots actually made it not just to a mailbox but into voters&rsquo; hands is much harder to do compared to when ballots change hands in a physical voting precinct.<\/p>\n<p>Programs like the Postal Service&rsquo;s &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/postalpro.usps.com\/shipping\/package-intercept#:~:text=For%20a%20fee%2C%20USPS%20Package,request%20a%20Package%20Intercept%20online.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Package Intercept<\/a>&rdquo; also raise questions about mail ballot procedures. Typically, undeliverable ballots are returned to the election office and are not <a href=\"https:\/\/faq.usps.com\/s\/article\/Election-Mail#Additional_information\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">forwarded<\/a> to a new address. For example, Davis County, Utah, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.co.davis.ut.us\/docs\/librariesprovider11\/election-files\/for-web.pdf?sfvrsn=852f5c53_0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">promises<\/a> voters that &ldquo;A ballot will never be forwarded by the Postal Service.&rdquo; However, most &ldquo;mailings with a tracking or extra services barcode&rdquo; <em>are<\/em> eligible for the &ldquo;Package Intercept&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usps.com\/manage\/package-intercept.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">service<\/a>, by which a person can log into USPS and redirect the mailing for a fee. The <a href=\"https:\/\/about.usps.com\/kits\/kit600.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">barcodes<\/a> typically printed on vote-by-mail ballot envelopes can usually be identified by anyone with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scandit.com\/products\/barcode-scanning\/symbologies\/usps-intelligent-mail\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">scanner<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Our elections should be secure, not convenient. Since and before the 2020 Covid election, voters in several states that mail a ballot to every name on the voter rolls &mdash; whether the voter is dead or alive, has moved, etc. &mdash; have embraced the convenience of voting by mail.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But the many issues with the USPS Election Mail system, and the total lack of citizen observation, make it impossible for the USPS, practically the largest precinct in our elections, to be the efficient and lawful caretaker of millions of vote-by-mail ballots.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Ned Jones is the Director of the Citizens Election Research Center at the Election Integrity Network. He has been researching election processes, including the USPS Election Mail System since the 2020 Election.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the 2020 Covid election, the USPS has essentially transformed into the largest &#8220;precinct&#8221; in our electoral process, operating with minimal public oversight. However, recent events, findings from the USPS Office of the Inspector General, and independent inquiries have indicated that the USPS might struggle to manage the expected influx of mail-in ballots this November. A report from The Federalist highlighted a significant issue during Utah&#8217;s June primary election where numerous ballots that were allegedly mailed before the vote-by-mail deadline were not processed by USPS in time to meet postmark requirements, rendering them uncountable. This incident reflects a broader problem within the USPS Election Mail system nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, USPS introduced its &#8220;Delivering for America&#8221; initiative\u2014a ten-year strategy aimed at restructuring mail operations for financial viability and improved service quality. While this program has reportedly cut costs over three years, it appears to have led to notable declines in service quality in several regions where changes were implemented.<\/p>\n<p>One major factor contributing to these issues is the consolidation of regional mail processing centers by USPS. These centers often serve large areas across multiple states. Although there is a policy mandating that all ballots mailed by voters be postmarked appropriately\u2014subject to strict state deadlines\u2014many vote-by-mail ballot envelopes are processed at these regional facilities. Consequently, ballots from one state may be sent to another state\u2019s processing center.<\/p>\n<p>In Utah&#8217;s case, timely-mailed ballots likely ended up at a processing center in Las Vegas due to logistical routing issues; as they took about a day for transit back and forth over approximately 340 miles, many missed their postmark deadlines and could not be counted.<\/p>\n<p>Another contributing factor is an initiative aimed at optimizing local transportation networks within USPS operations. This &#8220;Local Transportation Optimization&#8221; (LTO) project seeks to minimize transportation trips between sorting facilities but has resulted in delays as mail was held longer than necessary at delivery units\u2014exacerbating existing service problems.<\/p>\n<p>An audit conducted by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General revealed significant drops in service performance following LTO implementation in Richmond, Virginia\u2014the pilot location for this initiative\u2014even though improvements were noted after peak mailing seasons concluded.<\/p>\n<p>The report also discussed how LTO would impact Election Mail handling procedures; instructions provided indicated that vote-by-mail ballots should remain overnight unless it was within four days of an election when special collection measures would apply instead.<\/p>\n<p>Despite assurances from postal officials regarding timely ballot processing under LTO conditions\u2014and ongoing investigations into operational challenges\u2014the lack of clear national policies on handling Election Mail raises concerns about potential disruptions similar to those experienced during Utah&#8217;s primary elections across other states come November.<\/p>\n<p>The Office of Inspector General continues its scrutiny into problems stemming from both LTO and broader operational changes affecting local elections while highlighting vulnerabilities inherent within how Election Mail is managed by USPS compared with traditional voting precincts which maintain stricter chain-of-custody protocols for ballots received directly from voters or returned undeliverable ones.<\/p>\n<p>Concerns also arise regarding programs like \u201cPackage Intercept,\u201d which allows individuals with tracking barcodes on their mail\u2014including those on ballot envelopes\u2014to redirect deliveries potentially undermining secure voting processes designed around ensuring undeliverable items return directly back rather than being forwarded elsewhere without proper checks or balances involved.<\/p>\n<p>As more states adopt universal mail-in voting practices since 2020\u2014with little oversight mechanisms established\u2014it becomes increasingly challenging for an organization like USPS\u2014which now functions as one of our largest electoral precincts\u2014to effectively safeguard millions&#8217; worth votes cast through this method amidst growing logistical complexities surrounding its operation today.<\/p>\n<p>Ned Jones serves as Director at Citizens Election Research Center under Election Integrity Network focusing on researching various aspects related specifically towards improving transparency throughout electoral processes including examining intricacies tied closely alongside functioning systems such as those utilized via United States Postal Service itself since last major election cycle occurred previously mentioned above<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3333,"featured_media":2316630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/USPS_Ram_ProMaster_in_Provo_Utah_Sep_16.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[32644,11330,4351],"class_list":["post-2316629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-election-integrity","tag-usps","tag-voting"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/USPS_Ram_ProMaster_in_Provo_Utah_Sep_16.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3333"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2316629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2316630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2316629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2316629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2316629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}