The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has said it is committed to the secure and timely delivery of the flood of mail-in ballots in the 2024 election.
Officials with the USPS briefed reporters on Thursday about measures being taken to ensure the nation’s election mail reaches its destinations.
According to a news release, the USPS will once again implement proven measures to ensure the timely delivery of mail-in ballots entered close to or on Election Day and state ballot return deadlines, including additional pickups, extra deliveries and special sort plans on processing equipment.
Officials hope to build on the USPS’s performance in the 2020 election, when 97.9 percent of ballots were returned to election officials within three days, and in 2022, when 98.9 percent of ballots were delivered within the same timeframe.
“Our letter carriers and facilities teams across the country, the 640,000 women and men of the Postal Service, are fully focused on the critical mission of delivering the nation’s election mail—just as we have done so excellently through this current primary season and as we have done in the past,” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement.
“We are proud to do our part to help citizens who choose to use the mail to vote to do so effectively.”
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS)—the federal law enforcement and security arm of the agency—will also implement measures to ensure mail-in ballots are delivered securely, with rigorous security protocols, continuous monitoring, and prompt responses to any potential threats or incidents, the release said.
“We understand the critical role we play in the democratic process, and we are resolute in our efforts to secure the delivery of ballots and all Election Mail,” Brendan Donahue, assistant inspector in charge, said in a statement.
“We are committed to ensuring the safe and secure delivery of Election Mail to and from voters, the integrity of our nation’s elections, and the protection of election officials from threatening and dangerous mail.”
It comes four years after DeJoy, a longtime GOP donor who was appointed to the role by former president Donald Trump in 2020, came under intense scrutiny over sweeping policy changes that slowed mail ahead of the 2020 election, when record numbers were expected to vote by mail due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He was forced to deny accusations that he was sabotaging the 2020 election at a time when Trump was attacking the legitimacy of mail-in ballots.
“It was sensationalized. It scared the hell out of the American people,” DeJoy told The Associated Press on Thursday.
He said the accusations were “just crazy” and especially frustrating as he worked seven days a week after taking over an agency that was going to run out of cash in 60 days.
“We got through that,” he added. “The organization performed extremely well. After that, I began working with both sides of the aisle. My main mission now is to make this place better. And we have made this place better.”
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