Some US Postal Service facilities failed to properly handle ballots during this year’s primary elections, according to a new audit from the agency’s Office of Inspector General.
The audit, dated Sept. 4 but not previously reported, found a lack of training for post office staff on how to properly and expeditiously handle mail ballots, deficiencies in how ballots were tracked, and errors leading to delays. All of these risked ballots having incorrect postmarks or otherwise arriving late to election officials, which could lead to their rejection.
The findings come as the Supreme Court weighs whether to allow the Postal Service to move ahead with new rules that would allow the agency to regulate mail voting under a March executive order signed by President Donald Trump.
The Findings
The audit identified failures that increase “the risk that Election and Political Mail is not handled, documented, monitored, and reported in accordance with Postal Service policy.” However, it noted that “most facilities we visited generally adhered to Postal Service’s election-related policies and procedures” and that nearly 99% of ballots reached election officials in a timely manner.
When observing election mail at 14 processing facilities and 73 delivery units across eight states, auditors found significant flaws. There were no election-related training materials posted at 22 of 73 delivery units, or about 30%. In some locations, local management and employees weren’t familiar with requirements on how to process election mail.
In 14 states and Washington, DC, election officials count ballots only when they are postmarked by the Postal Service by Election Day. But the audit found that in 10 of 82 facilities, management wasn’t aware of the proper way to postmark a ballot. At five of nine mail processing facilities studied, retail clerks sometimes used stamps with inaccurate dates. That included a facility in Pennsylvania on the state’s primary election day, which caused 56 ballots to be postmarked with the wrong date.
The Expert Response
Election experts told ProPublica the findings should be considered by the Supreme Court. David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research and a former Justice Department civil rights lawyer, said the audit confirms that USPS has “a long way to go to meet its core obligations of delivering election mail in a timely manner.”
“The administration and USPS are simply incapable of successfully meeting vast and radical new responsibilities under the president’s executive order,” Becker said.
The American Postal Workers Union also filed a brief with the Supreme Court saying it is not practical to implement the rules, which pose a “significant risk of wide swaths of Americans not being able to vote by mail.”
The Postal Service’s Response
In a response included with the findings, the Postal Service wrote that “while we acknowledge that we can always reinforce and amplify our internal processes and procedures — overall ballot mail performance is strong.” The agency acknowledged that there are some instances in which employees didn’t follow policies and procedures, but called other errors “isolated incidents,” such as when some New Jersey ballots were delivered to Tennessee before being sent back.
The Postal Service agreed with all recommendations on how to protect against future problems, except for one that suggested promptly notifying customers impacted by new regional transportation plans.
The Bottom Line
A new inspector general audit found that some USPS facilities failed to properly handle ballots during this year’s primary elections due to a lack of training, tracking deficiencies, and postmarking errors. While nearly 99% of ballots were processed on time, the procedural gaps raise concerns ahead of the November midterms. The findings come as the Supreme Court weighs whether to allow USPS to implement new mail voting rules under a Trump executive order. Election experts and postal workers warn the agency is not prepared for the added responsibilities.
