USPS Trump-appointed official receives stark warning as mail-in voting begins

State and election officials are warning Postmaster General Louis DeJoy of potential disruptions in mail-in ballots coming from the country's mail system. The concerns were shared in a statement posted Wednesday by the National Association of Secretaries of State.

A variety of problems with the mail delivery system have been evident over the past year, they say, including receiving mailed ballots that had been postmarked on time arriving after the deadline to be counted, and instances in which ballots that were mailed correctly addressed were returned to voters as undeliverable, according to the group.

They also argued postal workers have been improperly trained and are uninformed about policies around election mail, resulting in ballots being withheld for "erroneous billing issues," delayed or improperly processed.

"These are not one-off mistakes or problems with specific facilities," the letter said, in reference to training issues among postal workers. "Instead, it demonstrated a pervasive lack of understanding and enforcement of USPS policies."

The officials claim that while there has been "repeated engagement with the Postal Service, they have not seen "improvement or concerted efforts" to remedy their concerns, which comes as millions of voters are expected to cast their ballots by mail in the weeks before Election Day.

"We implore you to take immediate and tangible corrective action to address the ongoing performance issues with USPS election mail service," the letter read. "Failure to do so will risk limiting voter participation and trust in the election process."

The group that issued the letter is nonpartisan— with its leadership alternating between Democrats and Republicans. Both the outgoing president, Steve Simon, a Democrat of Minnesota, and the incoming president, Michael Watson, a Republican from Mississippi, signed the letter.

The Postal Service is in the middle of a sweeping overhaul as part of an effort to stabilize its finances, after losses of $87 billion over the past 14 years. The effort, led by DeJoy, has temporarily led to worse service in areas like Atlanta, a big city in a crucial swing state, The New York Times reports.

For instance, on-time delivery of first-class mail in the Atlanta area dropped below 60% after a new processing center opened in February. Across the Georgia district, on-time delivery of first-class mail dropped to as low as 35.8% in March, according to The Times.

But despite concerns, the agency assures they are ready to handle mail-in voting when the time comes. Adrienne Marshall, the Postal Service's director of election mail and government services, said in a statement Wednesday that the USPS was "ready to deliver."

"We were successful in 2020 delivering a historic volume of mail in ballots," Marshall said. "And will do so again in November 2024."

Almost half of the votes in 2020 were cast by mail-in or absentee ballots, particularly as the effects of the pandemic were still looming large across the country. This year, they are expected to be less prevalent.

DeJoy has been a controversial figure since he was first appointed as Postmaster General in 2020. His proposed changes to the Postal Service led to pushback from Democrats, who worried that they could disrupt the delivery of mail-in ballots before the election, although that did not end up happening. At the same time, he was also scrutinized for his status as a longtime Republican donor and his ties to former President Doanld Trump, who nominated his wife, Aldona Wos, to be the U.S. ambassador to Canada in 2020.

Despite criticism, DeJoy continued on his position after Biden took office, working with the administration on environmental initiatives as well as on delivering Covid-19 tests through the mail service.

Pennsylvania is the first state to kick off mail-in voting on Sept. 16.