USPS says Pennsylvania mail ballots may not be delivered on time, and state warns of 'overwhelming'

[brooklynite]

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

The U.S. Postal Service has warned Pennsylvania that some mail ballots might not be delivered on time because the state’s deadlines are too tight for its “delivery standards,” prompting election officials to ask the state Supreme Court to extend the deadlines to avoid disenfranchising voters.

The warning came in a July 29 letter from Thomas J. Marshall, general counsel and executive vice president of the Postal Service, to Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, whose department oversees elections. That letter was made public late Thursday in a filing her department submitted to the Supreme Court, asking it to order that mail ballots be counted as long as they are received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election date.

If the court agrees, that could increase the likelihood that the results of the presidential race between President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden won’t be known for days after the election.

The Postal Service’s letter came amid false attacks on mail voting by Trump, and as concerns mount nationally about how the coronavirus pandemic could disrupt the 2020 election. For Pennsylvania, a battleground state that was decided by less than 1% of the vote in 2016, the letter warned that “certain deadlines for requesting and casting mail-in ballots are incongruous with the Postal Service’s delivery standards.”

Read more: https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-mail-voting-deadlines-post-office-lawsuit-20200813.html

[elleng]

1. I have little doubt that results 'won't be known for days after the election;'

THAT, imo, is not the major problem.

[Orrex]

2. And president Fuckface will sue to challenge every single mail-in Biden vote

[elleng]

5. Good luck to him with THAT.

[Thekaspervote]

10. First there has to be a recount..

[cayugafalls]

3. It should be 7 days.

Give it time during this bullshit that trump crony DeJoy is pulling.

I have words, but they can't be typed here on DU...

[groundloop]

6. Go ahead and use all your words, we'll understand

It's been proven that a few choice cuss words release stress, and Lord knows there's plenty of stress to go around right now.

[Hoyt]

4. Good to hear some USPS honchos trying to help. Hope he doesn't get fired.

[groundloop]

7. I have to wonder if there's data showing GOPers benefit from an overall slowing of the mail......

Or if their goal is just confusion. Or maybe they've figured out how to be very surgical with where they slow down mail so that it hurts Democratic zip codes worse.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

31. I would go with confusion.

Listen to how Trump speaks. He never commits to anything. It's always, "We'll see what happens" or some vague thing. Chris Wallace tried to pin him down on whether he'd accept the results of the election if it shows he lost. "There's a lot that needs to be decided. Legal challenges, for one. And we already know that mail in votes are going to be fraudulent. So we'll have to see what happens."

It is going to take an all-out blowout to shove this bastard our of the WH. All of the battleground states are going to have to be decisive (the postal service has already informed the Pennsylvania election board that it will not be able to have all of the mail in ballots delivered in time to be counted).

This may be the first election in the history of our country which will require a nationwide protest to get the losing president out of office because of all the schemes he'll use to stay in. Look at how hard he has worked to keep his taxes secret. He's already demonstrated a willingness to use a secret police force to attack peaceful protesters.

He cannot win. We cannot let him win.

[gab13by13]

8. I just got an email today

that my ballot would be arriving in September. I am from Pa. I mean if I get my ballot in September and I assume I can mail it in right away I should be OK I would think. If there is a problem I am not aware of I will hand deliver it to the county elections office.

[ananda]

18. Hand deliver it.

Period

[lagomorph777]

24. In any state where hand-delivery is allowed, and you can do it, DO IT!

That's what I'm going to do. My ballot will be returned the same day it arrives in the mail. Assuming it arrives in the mail.

[Thekaspervote]

9. Please please!! DO NOT trust your completed ballot to the mail..hand deliver ONLY!!

[bluestarone]

11. 2nd this!!!

If allowed, hand deliver!!!

[gab13by13]

12. I mean if I send in my ballot in September early October

I don't see why it won't get there on time, it's 15 miles away. I live in Trump country so I'm guessing my ballot will be golden.
I will wait until I am sure though, with the law suit going on in Pa.

[Pachamama]

13. I plan to personally deliver my mail-in ballot to the Election Board weeks in advance

Masked of course....but delivering it personally to the box in their office (or sitting right out front of it).

It will take some effort that involves driving there but I will get it to them with time to spare and as close into the hands of those that count my vote.

I realize that for some, especially elderly, this isn’t always so simple. But our vote and the ability to vote and making sure your vote counts is going to be the most important thing you will need to do.

We all need to do all we can to get our vote counted.

[VarryOn]

16. I don't put cash in the mail, and I certainly wouldn't put...

a presidential ballot in the mail either. In fact, I wouldn't even put a school board special election ballot in the mail. It's nothing against the USPS; it's just that I must see with my own eyes that my ballot is received.

[gab13by13]

19. If my ballot can't be shipped 15 miles in 1 month

to the county election office on time then we all need to not vote because we are royally screwed. I understand what Trump is doing to the post office but IMO, given my scenario, I trust that my ballot will be delivered. I personally don't think that saying don't ever ship your ballot through the mail is helpful. I understand and agree if you ship it late then hand deliver it but telling me not to trust my post office workers who I know personally is overboard IMO.

[VarryOn]

21. I trust the USPS workers. What I dont trust...

Last edited Fri Aug 14, 2020, 10:46 AM - Edit history (1)

is, I guess, the process. If my ballot was solely in the custody of the mailman I know, I'd be fine with it. But, he picks up my mail, takes it back to the post office, and then it goes into the "system" with millions of other pieces of mail. Then, each piece doesnt go from point A (my house) to point B (the elections office). Rather, it goes to multiple places before eventually, I hope, reaching its final destination.

We've all had mail that was lost. I'm not going to take that chance with my ballot. I'm naturually distrusting on things like this. That's me. Therefore, I'd hand-deliver.

I'm going to vote in person, anyway.

But, again, I totally trust the emps of the USPS.

[lagomorph777]

25. DeJoy will route your ballot through Alaska and Hawaii on the way to your neighboring town.

[sloopdog50]

14. Solving this Problem

With millions out of work, and a goodly share in PA, hire additional postal workers for the election to ensure the mail vote is counted. It puts people to work with a good job and saves the republic. How easy is that?

[OneBro]

15. Hmph. I didn't know the Post Office had a Vice President.

[chriscan64]

17. I just thought of something.

One of Trump's gripes with the mail in ballots is that the winner may not be known on election night. What if he is way down on election night and needs the late mail in votes to win? He is no stranger to contradicting himself, I am sure he won't concede until every ballot is received in the mail. Of course after he loses he will say the whole thing was rigged, but there might be a short period when he considers the mail in votes valid while they are potentially for him. What he doesn't get is that even if there was no mail in voting, he wouldn't get enough to win. I believe he is self serving enough to reverse himself on mailed in ballots when they could help him and turn right around and condemn them a few days later when he loses.

[gab13by13]

20. Trump doesn't want people using paper ballots,

and that's what mail in ballots are. Paper ballots can't be pre-programmed to flip votes like electronic voting machines.

This is about forcing people to vote in black hole electronic voting machines. Until voting machines are randomly, independently audited I will never vote that way again unless there is no other option.

[Bengus81]

23. Yeah..and a Federal Crime to attempt to change them seeing how they were mailed...

No one in the PO would risk years behind bars in a Penitentiary to alter ballots for Trump.

[lagomorph777]

28. DeJoy would.

He can install operatives to automate the process.

[Bengus81]

29. Not going to happen. Mail them back early and they will arrive well before Nov 3rd

[lagomorph777]

30. Mine will be hand-delivered the same day I receive it; anybody who can hand-deliver, should do it.

[lagomorph777]

26. Vapor voting machines should be federally banned. Period.

The only legitimate ballot is a physical paper ballot.

[Bengus81]

22. Fill it out and send it BACK the same day or the next day. Hell..it will be there a MONTH early...

That's what I do when I vote by mail. Don't set that ballot aside for weeks.

[lagomorph777]

27. CARRY it back the same day, if legal in your state.