According to the United States Postal Service (USPS), the agency may not deliver mail-in ballots to Pennsylvania in time for the 2020 presidential election.
Pennsylvania officials received a letter from Thomas Marshall, general counsel and executive vice president for the Postal Service, explaining why there may be a delay in receiving mail-in ballots.
Marshall wrote there is “significant risk” voters who request an absentee or mail-in ballot “will not have sufficient time to complete and mail the completed ballot[s] back to election officials in time for it to arrive by [Pennsylvania’s] return deadline.”
Officials said the announcement significantly changes the “outlook for voting by mail in the general election.”
A filing submitted by Pennsylvania’s Department of State to the state Supreme Court included the letter and requested mail-in ballots be counted as long as they are received on or before the third day following the election.
The letter also stated, “The Postal Service’s [current] delivery standards” are “incompatible with” the state’s “deadlines for requesting and casting mail-in ballots.”
As a result, “There is a significant risk that… ballots may be requested in a manner that is consistent with [Pennsylvania’s] election rules and returned promptly, and yet not be returned in time to be counted.”
The letter comes as President Donald Trump continues to critique mail-in voting and Democrats’ demand for more funding for the post office.
Appearing on Fox Business on Thursday, Trump slammed Democrats for calling for $25 billion for the post office, as IJR previously reported.
He suggested if he does not strike a deal with them on funding, they “can’t have universal mail-in voting.”
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced plans to make changes to the Postal Service. However, House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill on Wednesday to prohibit the agency from making those changes, as IJR previously reported.
