- An avalanche of problems within the US Postal Service
could keep votes from being counted in 2020.
More Americans than ever before
are expected to vote by mail this year.
And since the USPS has a monopoly over letter delivery,
tho se ballots will have to go through the postal service.
But years of financial problems, recent budget cuts,
and a strain from the pandemic is slowing the system down
threatening our democracy.
- In 19 states, your ballot needs
to be postmarked by a certain date to count.
Now, only the US Postal Service
can issue a legally valid postmark.
FedEx cannot postmark your ballot.
UPS cannot postmark your ballot.
Only the Postal Service can do that.
Narrator: The problems begin with sorting machines,
which are crucial to a quick delivery.
But the Postal Service has been planning
on dismantling them since May.
And many have already been removed
from distribution centers across the country,
which could slow down all sorts
of mail delivery, including ballots.
- Ballot and election mail don't get special treatment
on their own in the postal system for being election mail.
They're just processed in with
all the other first-class mail.
Narrator: Mail-in voting includes both
universal mail-in ballots and absentee ballots.
Some states send mailed ballots to every registered voter,
while others require voters to apply
for an absentee ballot ahead of the election.
That process results in a lot of mail,
and state election offices depend on the USPS to deliver it.
- Only the USPS can go into mailboxes.
They sort of have this monopoly over letters
and first-class mail, but not packages.
Narrator: And if the Postal Service can't
deliver and return applications and ballots on time,
those votes might not be counted.
- As a voter, you have a lot of agency over making sure
your vote gets counted, even in a crazy pandemic time.
If you are voting by mail,
you should go and request your ballot now.
Do not wait until the last minute.
This is a concept experts refer to as
flattening the curve of mail ballot requests
Narrator: Some states also offer other ways
to return your ballot, like in drop boxes
or by hand delivering them to local election offices.
The Postal Service was already dealing with mail delays
thanks in part to reforms implemented
by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
Those reforms led to cost-cutting measures
like slashing overtime and limiting late delivery shifts.
Financial problems at the USPS aren't new,
but President Donald Trump's recent attacks
on universal mail-in voting
brought national attention to the reforms.
- They're trying it again with this whole
80 million mail-in ballots that they're working on.
Sending them out to people that didn't ask for them.
And it's not fair and it's not right.
- The other part of it is,
the pandemic has been really, really scary for people,
and it's undermined a lot of people's
faith and trust in their government.
Narrator: DeJoy told senators that the Postal Service
will no longer be dismantling machines
prior to the election,
but those that were already removed won't be replaced.
He also said that postal employees will
be approved for overtime to process mail-in votes.
And in a contentious House hearing,
DeJoy promised that mail-in voting would be safe.
- I am not engaged in sabotaging the election.
We will do everything within our power and structure
to deliver ballots on time.
Narrator: But many worry this isn't enough,
especially because of issues
processing ballots during the primaries.
- Election offices dealt with a massive, massive influx
of people requesting mail ballots at the last minute.
There were people, a lot of people in some states,
who didn't get their ballots at all, or you know,
got their ballots on the day of the election
or when it was too late to return them.
Narrator: In July, the Postal Service sent a letter
to 46 states and Washington, DC,
warning that their registration deadlines
might not provide enough time
for the agency to deliver ballots.
And though concerns about a contentious election
are at the forefront of the Postal Service debate,
other problems will persist after November.
- More people are interested and concerned
about the post office than maybe ever before
because of the impending election.
But, you know, it's important to step back
and look at the big picture,
and the financial problems
with the Postal Service are not going away.
These are big existential questions
about the post office's future,
and what it will look like,
that are not going to go away after the election.