The U.S. Postal Service warned Pennsylvania in July that its “delivery standards” did not meet the state’s strict deadlines for request and return. post-in-ballots, according to a letter recorded in a filing of Thursday court. As a result, the USPS warned, there is a risk that ballot papers applied for near the deadline in one of the nation’s most disputed states will not be returned in time to count.
Under current Pennsylvania law, voters can submit a ballot box seven days before the election. Counties cannot count votes received after election day.
In a July 29 letter to Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, Attorney General and Executive Vice President Thomas Marshall of the Postal Service warned that there was a ‘mismatch’ between Pennsylvania law and the delivery capabilities of the postal system “creates a risk that ballot papers applied for near the deadline under state law will not be returned in time to count under your laws because we understand them.”
Even first emails take two to five days to deliver, Marshall wrote.
The letter, which was recorded Thursday by the Pennsylvania State Department in the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth, recommended that voters submit polls at least 15 days before election time, “and preferably long before that time.”
The filing of the State Department asked the state Supreme Court to count post-in votes if they are received by counties up to three days after the election, as long as they were postmarked by election day. It was a concession to the plaintiff, a handful of voters, and the Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans, which filed in April for the state to count post-in votes received a full week after the election as until November 3 postmarked.
The submission, which refuted the state’s objections that the request was “speculative,” said the state department had previously “been made aware of isolated problems in certain counties.” But “Before Mr. Marshall’s letter, the Postal Service had not demonstrated the likelihood of widespread, persistent, multi-day postal delivery delays, presenting an overwhelming, statewide risk of exemption for significant numbers of voters using post-in ballots. , “department said.
The state department had previously fought against allowing ballots received after election day, although Governor Tom Wolf granted six of the state’s most populous counties an extension with an executive order. In late July, Wolf announced that the state would pay for prepaid postage for all post-in ballot papers, in response to a request made by plaintiffs in the same lawsuit.
But the request to allow counties to receive ballot counts after election day also underscores the likelihood that counties in the state will still count days after election day, as they were in the June 2 primary.
The progressive PAC Priorities USA had supported the plaintiff’s lawsuit. The commission’s chairman, Guy Cecil, praised the State Department’s change in a statement. “This decision is an important step in addressing the mixed barriers to voting that Americans are navigating as a result of conscious voter oppression,” he said.
The Pennsylvania State Department and the U.S. Postal Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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