Nearly 1,000 Kansans were disenfranchised in the August primary due to errors by the United States Postal Service (USPS) in delivering mail-in ballots to county clerk offices for tabulation.
In his letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, who voiced concern prior to the August Primary about mailing ballots, said the Postal Service’s mistakes were a violation of Kansas law that requires all mail-in ballots to be postmarked by 7:00 PM on Election Day and received within three days of the election to be counted:
“Multiple county election officials have notified my office that ballots were received from the local post office days, if not weeks, after they were placed in the custody of the USPS under the assumption that they would be received and counted by county election officials.
“In fact, some ballots were delivered to the county election offices lacking proper postmarks. A post-election survey of Kansas’s 105 counties revealed that nearly 1,000 ballots were received – and are continuing to be received – in approximately half of the counties without a postmark or after the three-day grace period, making those ballots ineligible to be counted, despite being mailed before election day. A ballot without a postmark cannot be counted during the three-day grace period.”
Schwab added the disenfranchised Kansans deserve answers:
“On behalf of Kansas voters, I request that you provide an explanation of (1) how USPS will ensure that every ballot is postmarked in the November General Election so voters are not again disenfranchised, and (2) how the USPS will ensure that every ballot that is placed into its custody prior to Election Day will be delivered on time to county election offices for the votes to be counted.
“It is unacceptable that your agency has disenfranchised Kansas voters. As the chief election official in Kansas, I urge you to provide Kansans a clear explanation for your failure to provide service that enables Kansans to exercise their constitutional right to vote, and to articulate what action USPS will take to ensure that every ballot entrusted to the USPS for the November election is properly postmarked and delivered on time.”
A breakdown of the affected counties was provided by Clay Barker, General Counsel of the Secretary of State’s Office:
We reached to the USPS for reaction to Schwab’s letter and those from secretaries of state and election officials throughout the country.
Mark Inglett is a spokesman for the area USPS in Kansas City:
“Regarding ballot postmarking issues in Kansas, we want to be very clear: as we have said previously to Kansas election officials, our team is unaware of the issues with postmarking and, without a review of the actual mailpieces involved, are unable to comment further. If election officials will please provide the ballots, our team is ready to review the mail pieces, provide assistance, and resolve these issues going forward.”
Inglett provided excerpts of a letter from Postmaster General DeJoy to the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors regarding the 2024 election:
“To the extent that there are specific issues identified in the letter, we believe that many have already been discussed and addressed. A successful election season required the collaboration and engagement of our stakeholders… In that regard, I am confident in our Election and Government Mail Services group, and in the robust plans we have in place.”
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“We have provided briefings on our modernization plans to NASS and NASED, along with individual state election officials. Let us reiterate, modernization and enhancement plans will not have an impact on Election Mail, and we have committed to limit network changes to avoid any unintended disruption in service for the upcoming election and peak season… Furthermore, as demonstrated consistently in previous elections, Election Mail routinely outperforms our regular service performance due to our long-standing processes and procedures.”
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“As to your suggestion about extending extraordinary measures, it is important to understand that we routinely monitor performance in all our facilities, and we implement certain processes and procedures specific to Election Mail all year round, including advancing Election Mail ahead of other mail in processing and using daily “all clears” to ensure that all Election mail is accounted for in the system and that mail scheduled or “committed” to go out is processed accordingly.”
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“We have determined that implementing extraordinary measures two weeks before the election provides ample time. That said, we are, and will continue, to look for opportunities to further improve our processes and procedures and to enhance our Election Mail service performance.”
