Major Delays in Mail Delivery Have People Worried It Could Impact 2024 Election
Here in the Susitna Valley, when it's time to vote, we proceed on Election Day to our local community center, where we present our IDs, get checked off the voting roll, sign in, and then fill out a paper ballot. Those paper ballots are placed in a box and counted by humans. Now, granted, that system works well here, where our little rural community can expect fewer than 2,000 voters most years.
Many states and municipalities across the land have, however, resorted to mail-in ballots. It's easy to imagine many ways in which this system is fraught, but now a major overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service - the timing of which is surely coincidental - is threatening to delay the delivery of mail-in ballots in the November election.
Across the country, residents and businesses have been reporting widespread slowdowns in mail and package delivery by the U.S. Postal Service. The delays have become so persistent that members of Congress have gotten involved, urging the Postal Service to drastically correct course and raising concern about what impact the disruptions could have on mail-in ballots in the upcoming election.
The delays appear to largely stem from a new system the Postal Service began rolling out last fall that will eventually funnel all the nation’s letters and packages through a consolidated network of 60 regional distribution centers — similar to the airlines’ hub-and-spoke model. The change is part of a wider $40 billion, 10-year overhaul of the network that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has said will reduce costs, improve reliability and make the Postal Service more competitive.