by Natalia Mittelstadt
Amid U.S. Postal Service delivery delays and mail-in voting fraud, Democrats and the media are finally admitting there are some problems with mail-in voting ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
As mail-in voting has increased since the 2020 presidential election during the Covid-19 lockdown, Democrats have been advocating for it as an easier method of voting. But as USPS has experienced delivery problems and ballot harvesting has led to at least one “re-vote,” some Democrats and the media are noticing problems with the voting method.
Last year, USPS began using a modern distribution system, which likely contributed to delays in mail delivery. This could impact the delivery of mailed ballots both to voters and back to election departments, something officials have warned both USPS and voters about.
Senator Gary Peters, Michigan sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy regarding delivery issues affecting the election, noting that “The nature of changes to the USPS network have raised significant concerns at this time, including the potential for service degradation in rural areas due to fewer facilities, delayed delivery of election mail, that would be processed outside state facilities, and critical health information such as laboratory tests that are not processed the same day due to fewer transportation trips. These changes and lack of transparency have also raised concerns among other members of Congress who have requested similar information and received insufficient responses.”
In February, the registrar general in Richmond, Virginia he told voters before the March primary election, they placed absentee ballots in drop boxes instead of mailing them via USPS.
“The reports we are receiving of delayed, lost or even missing mail are deeply concerning, especially in the wake of key election events like November’s presidential election,” said Keith Balmer, Richmond’s general secretary. – wrote in the blog post shared on the X account of the electoral office (formerly Twitter).
USPS told NBC News that for the November election “it will employ a robust and proven process to ensure proper handling and delivery of all election mail, including ballots.”
Meanwhile, in Connecticut, after alleged ballot harvesting during last September’s primary election led to a court-ordered “rerun” of the election, Democratic Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas advised voters to vote in person before the Bridgeport mayoral primary reruns in January.
said Thomas that their election observers “cannot do everything and we encourage anyone who can do so to vote in person on January 23. If someone voted absentee but is not sure whether they should do so, they can withdraw their absentee ballot by going in person to the city clerk’s office before 10 a.m. on Election Day, and then they can vote at their designated polling place. “
Last year, in a lawsuit seeking to overturn a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that found mail-in ballot drop boxes were illegal, a Democratic Party-affiliated law firm argued that U.S. Postal Service mailboxes were in fact “unsecured.”
The Elias Law Group files lawsuit Wisconsin Board of Elections on behalf of Priorities USA, the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans, and the voter in connection with the state Supreme Court’s ruling against the ballot drop box.
In legal filingthe company also appears to argue that drop boxes are more secure than mailboxes.
“By restricting Wisconsin voters from returning absentee ballots and having them counted properly, the drop box ban severely burdens the right to vote.” – states the report. “Without the ability to drop absentee ballots into drop boxes, voters must instead rely on the U.S. Postal Service – and its unsecured drop boxes – to deliver their absentee ballot and simply hope the ballot arrives by Election Day.”
Elias Law Group was founded in 2021 by Democratic attorney Marc Elias, who in March 2020 advocated that states switch to postal voting due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It is not enough for states to simply enable more citizens to vote by mail [original emphasis]. “Each state must also provide adequate resources to print and distribute millions of additional ballots and support officials with additional funds tasked with processing and counting the deluge of mailed ballots.” Elijah wrote in a March 2020 article for the Washington Post.
“Most importantly, for this system to work, states must be prepared to process and count the avalanche of ballots that will be mailed on Election Day but will arrive at election offices over the next few days,” he added. he wrote too.
The federal government also acknowledged there were problems with mail-in voting.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) censored social media narratives about concerns about mail-in voting in 2020, despite awareness of the risks associated with mail-in voting. documents published by America First Legal in January.
America First Legal is suing 2020 CISA data from the Misinformation, Misinformation and Disinformation (MDM) team. According to documentation obtained by America First Legal from the lawsuit and released Monday, CISA knew that voting by mail and voting by mail were less secure than in-person voting.
Some of these issues have been addressed outsourced risk to the United States Postal Service, which increases the risk of problems such as cyberattacks.
However, CISA continued to support a widespread policy change around mail-in voting across the country and censored social media narratives about mail-in voting problems.
CISA commissioned accounting and consulting firm Deloitte to monitor and flag social media posts about the 2020 election. These posts included concerns about mail-in voting, such as on former President Donald Trump’s Twitter post that there were “major problems and discrepancies with absentee ballots.”
Years before the 2020 election, a bipartisan group analyzed mail-in voting and expressed its own concerns.
In 2005 bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform – including former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State under President George H. W. Bush, James Baker – highlighted concerns they had about mail-in ballots.
“While voting by mail appears to increase turnout in local elections, there is no evidence that it significantly increases participation in federal elections,” he added. – wrote the commission. “Moreover, it raises privacy concerns as citizens voting at home may find themselves under pressure to vote for certain candidates, and increases the risk of fraud.”
“However, voting by mail is likely to increase the risk of fraud and contested elections in other states where the population is more mobile, where there has been a history of difficult elections, or where guarantees of voting integrity are weaker,” he added. the the committee also stated.
Republicans warned for years of the potential risks associated with postal voting and want to secure or prohibit certain aspects of it, such as ballot collection and ballot drop boxes. However, the GOP is now starting to utilize the same tactics this election cycle.
Last June, the Republican National Committee announced its own “Give your voice” initiative.which “will encourage, educate and activate Republican Party voters on when, where and how to lock in their votes as quickly as possible through in-person early voting, mail-in voting and ballot harvesting where lawful,” according to RNC announcement.
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Natalia Mittelstadt graduated from Regent University with a bachelor’s degree in communication and administration.
