Within the suburban Virginia district of Consultant Gerald E. Connolly, a Democrat who leads the Home subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service
Within the suburban Virginia district of Consultant Gerald E. Connolly, a Democrat who leads the Home subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service, 1,300 folks voted by mail in a 2019 major — final month, greater than 34,000 did.
“We’re fearful about new administration on the Postal Service that’s finishing up Trump’s avowed opposition to voting by mail,” Mr. Connolly mentioned. “I don’t suppose that’s hypothesis. I believe we’re witnessing that in entrance of our personal eyes.”
Erratic service may delay the supply of clean ballots to individuals who request them. And in 34 states, accomplished ballots that aren’t acquired by Election Day — this yr it’s Nov. 3 — are invalidated, elevating the prospect that some voters might be disenfranchised if the mail system buckles.
In different states, ballots will be tallied so long as they’re postmarked by Election Day, however voting rights teams say ballots are sometimes erroneously delivered with no postmark, which prevents them from being counted.
The flexibility of the Postal Service “to well timed ship and return absentee ballots and their work to postmark these ballots will actually decide whether or not or not voters are disenfranchised throughout the pandemic,” mentioned Kristen Clarke, the president of the Nationwide Attorneys’ Committee for Civil Rights Beneath Legislation.
In New York, the place officers urged folks to not forged ballots in individual throughout June’s major, counting of mail-in ballots remains to be underway weeks later, leaving some essential races undecided. In some instances, ballots acquired with out postmarks are being discarded.
Making the issue worse, New York regulation requires that election officers wait to start counting mail-in ballots till the polls shut on Election Day. Different states enable counting to start earlier, although most insist that no outcomes be revealed till after voting ends. In Arizona, officers can start tallying votes 14 days early. In Florida, officers can start verifying signatures on ballots 22 days earlier than the election.