The U.S. presidential election is in its final stages, and this year, due to the Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19) epidemic, the demand for absentee ballots is greater than ever, and the number of early voters in the U.S. has exceeded 93 million, but the U.S. postal system is unable to cope with such a huge demand for ballot delivery, and some areas may not be able to deliver ballots in time, plus the states are not sure when the ballots will be delivered. The lack of uniformity in mail-back regulations has created a lot of confusion. In response, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan signed an order on January 1, requiring the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to deliver all ballots before the voting deadline.
According to Reuters, the order signed by Sullivan has been approved by the Postal Service, which will reinforce the regulation to administrators, emphasizing that all ballots with a local address must be processed the same day from Sunday through at least November 7. The order, signed by Sullivan on Nov. 1, requires the Postal Service to resend the “special measures” policy to senior management by 9 p.m. Sunday, providing specific guidance for the final week of the 2020 election, and to reissue the policy if directed to do so by a federal district court.
Sullivan stressed that the Postal Service must clearly postmark each ballot to show the date it was received, even if the ballot is not stamped. In addition, the Postal Service must remind management to comply with “special measures” to expedite the delivery of ballots by courier network before Tuesday’s voting deadline.
In addition, Sullivan ordered daily status reports on the backlog of ballot mail coming out of the Miami-Dade and Princeton post offices.
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