ATLANTA — Currently, absentee ballots are on their way to Georgia voters who are in the military or living overseas, and in less than two weeks, counties across the state will also start mailing regular absentee ballots to other voters.
Yet, worries persist about the postal service’s ability to handle election mail amid delays that have plagued the Peach State for the past six months.
“It’s very, very frustrating,” Julie Rice explained as she continued to try to track down missing certified mail and packages.
“You end up just going in a big circle,” she said. “And I’m tired of the circles.”
Rice’s family is not only concerned about missing mail, but they’re also watching the mail situation in Georgia as Nov. 5 nears. Her college son is planning to vote absentee for the November election.
“I hope that he actually gets the ballot first of all,” Rice said. “And second of all, that it gets where it needs to be and gets counted.”
Such concerns were also expressed in a Sept. 18 letter by Republican members of the Georgia Congressional delegation. In that letter, the lawmakers called on the postmaster general and USPS for more specifics and assurances that absentee ballots would be processed on time.
“Over the last year, many of our constituents have lost faith in mail delivery by USPS in Georgia due to delays caused by the implementation of the United States Postal Service Delivering for America (DFA) Plan,” the lawmakers noted while requesting a list of steps taken to address any potential delays on election mail.
Meanwhile, counties continue their process as absentee ballot applications continue to come in and ballots begin to be sent to Georgia voters.
“The March presidential preference primary was pretty rough,” Zach Manifold, elections supervisor for Gwinnett County, shared with 11Alive. “We definitely had some serious delays. We saw hundreds of ballots come back late and after election day. It got a lot better in May; the mail started speeding back up, and we had a better performance. So we’re waiting to see what happens.”
Manifold said part of the improvement in May was a change in USPS procedure.
“If the mail was local, they started keeping the mail local rather than going to Palmetto and back,” Manifold shared. However, the question remains whether the postal service can deliver in November.
“It's still hit or miss,” he added. “We don't feel really great about it, so we're still telling people to be as early as possible.”
The Georgia Secretary of State’s office echoed that same advice to 11Alive. While the agency did not answer requests for specifics on how it will monitor any mail delays, a spokesperson reiterated that if you’re planning to vote by mail, vote early.
“Our staff has been in regular contact with USPS throughout the year, but one of the most important messages that Secretary Raffensperger has been sending to Georgia voters is to:
- 1) Request absentee ballots as early as possible and to
- 2) Use My Voter Page and the Ballot Scout tracking tool to track their ballot through the postal process
- 3) Make a plan to vote, and if possible, utilize Georgia’s minimum of 17 days of early voting and election day. Make a plan and go vote,” a spokesperson responded.
In a Sept. 13 letter, the Postmaster General also aimed to reassure state election officials nationwide that the agency would be ready for the general election.
“You can rest assured that along with the entire United States Postal Service, I am personally fully committed to effective implementation of our longstanding processes and procedures designed to ensure that all ballot mail is delivered in a timely and secure manner,” DeJoy wrote in response to concerns raised by the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors. “We will make every effort to expeditiously resolve any specific concerns brought to our attention by your organizations.”
“We don't control when ballots are mailed by election officials or when they must be returned,” DeJoy shared in a subsequent media briefing. “But we do want to do our best to ensure that our system is effective for voters who choose to utilize us to cast their ballot.”
In his letter, DeJoy continued to emphasize that election mail routinely outperforms regular mail service while also detailing USPS’ commitment to reinforce internal training, address any issues with ballot envelope designs that could interfere with processing, advance election mail ahead of other mail processing; and deploy special ballot monitors and ambassadors starting Oct. 1.
In addition, the postmaster general indicated that election mail efforts will ramp up two weeks before November 5. Yet DeJoy also urges voters to mail their ballots at least one week before the deadline.
Rice, meanwhile, is still not convinced. While USPS First Class mail performance in Georgia has notably improved since the launch of the Palmetto facility tanked delivery times in March, the latest data shows service still has not returned to previous levels.
