Page 8 - Florida Sentinel 10-23-20

Political
Key Swing States Vulnerable To USPS Slowdowns As Millions Vote By Mail, Data Shows
In 17 postal districts com- prising 10 battleground states and 151 electoral votes, first-class mail service is down 7.8 percentage points from January benchmarks and nearly 2 percentage points below the national av- erage.
Key swing states that m a y well decide the presi- dential race are recording some of the nation’s most er- ratic mail service as a record number of Americans are re- lying on the US Postal Serv- ice to deliver their ballots, agency data show.
Consistent and timely de- livery remains scattershot as the agency struggles to right operations after the botched rollout, then suspension, of a major midsummer restruc- turing. In 17 postal districts comprising 10 battleground states and 151 electoral votes,
In 17 postal districts comprising 10 battleground states and 151 electoral votes, first-class mail service is down 7.8 percentage points from January benchmarks and nearly 2 percentage points below the national average.
after Election Day, even if postmarked before. Of the states that do, there’s gener- ally a short acceptance win- dow: North Carolina, where polls have President Trump and Democratic nominee and former vice president Joe Biden in a dead heat — postmarked bal- lots must arrive within three days of the election.
''There are fundamental and foundational issues with the Postal Service that go be- yond voting. And there are issues with election adminis- tration that we can address,'' said David Becker, execu- tive director of the nonprofit nonpartisan Center for Elec- tion Innovation & Research. ''But the rules we have for the next 14 days are the rules we have.''
''There are always vari- abilities in the mail. There
have always been concerns about variabilities in the mail. There have always been states that have firm dead- lines after which no more ballots will be accepted. There has always been an el- ement of voter responsibility along with responsibility of election officials and the Postal Service. And voters are embracing that responsi- bility.''
Of the 52.7 million voters who requested mail-in bal- lots, 13.7 million have been returned as of Tuesday, ac- cording to the US Elections Project.
In Detroit, where Demo- crats are relying on heavy turnout to carry the rest of Michigan, only 70.9 percent of first-class mail was on time the week ended Oct. 9, compared with 92.2 percent at the start of the year.
first-class mail service is down 7.8 percentage points from January benchmarks and nearly 2 percentage points below the national av- erage. By that measure, roughly 16 in 100 items will not arrive within the Postal Service’s one- to three-day delivery window; in January,
it was fewer than 10.
The slowdowns, which
have raised alarms and sus- picions among voters, postal workers, and voting experts, have particular implications for states with strict dead- lines. Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia, for example, do not accept ballots that arrive
PAGE 8-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2020