USPS responds to scathing letter from top Kansas election official over alleged ballot mishandling
TOPEKA (KSNT) - The U.S. Postal Service is responding after a top Kansas election official issued a letter slamming the organization for allegedly mishandling mail during the August Primary.
27 News reached out to the USPS on Monday, Sept. 9 following the release of a letter from Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab. In it, he accused the USPS of mishandling 1,000 ballots from Kansas voters that were received too late by county election officials or lacked a required postmark for the Primary Election.
Schwab went on to highlight the worries voters might be feeling going into the General Election in November in his letter. This comes as election officials sound the alarm nationwide on widespread problems being encountered with the mail recently.
USPS spokesman Mark Inglett said the letter has been received and a response will be sent to Schwab. The USPS has kept communications close with Schwab and other election officials in the Sunflower State this year to resolve issues as they arise, including with the latest postmark problems outlined in the letter.
"As we have discussed with Kansas election officials, each state establishes by law the rules and requirements for ballot submission, including ballot-submission deadlines and the role, if any, that postmarks play in determining whether a ballot was timely. In the normal course of operations, the Postal Service does not postmark, or “cancel” every piece of mail in the system. The primary purpose of cancellation is to ensure that postage cannot be reused, and some categories of postage are pre-canceled before they enter the mailstream.
In recognition of the importance that the election laws in some states place on postmarks, it has been the long-standing policy of the Postal Service to try to ensure that every return ballot mailed by voters receives a postmark, whether the return ballot is mailed with postage pre-paid by election officials or with a stamp affixed by the voter. A voter can ensure that a postmark is applied to his or her return ballot by visiting a Postal Service retail office and requesting a postmark from a retail associate when dropping off the ballot.
The Postal Service has instructed employees throughout the country about our ballot postmarking processes and procedures and reviewed the standard operating procedures for ballot postmarking. Although we instruct our employees throughout the country to adhere to our ballot postmarking policy, such practice does deviate from normal procedures, since the primary purpose of cancellation is to ensure that postage cannot be reused, and some categories of postage are pre-cancelled before they enter the mailstream."
Mark Inglett, USPS spokesman
Voters who are in the U.S. and not associated with the military who want to use the mail to return a completed ballot are encouraged by the USPS to send it in before election day and at least one week before the deadline set by your local election official. Recommendations may vary depending on which state a voter is mailing a ballot in, meaning even more time should be allowed for the ballot to be sent in.
Inglett directs people to check out the USPS website for information related to past successes with its services in the 2020 and 2022 elections. To read the full letter sent to the USPS earlier this week from Schwab, see the document below or click here.
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