ATLANTA — U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff continues to raise awareness about issues with the United States Postal Service as mail delays ravish the Peach State. On Tuesday, Ossoff said he received "disturbing" reports from the Fulton County court clerk.
Sen. Ossoff held a news conference on Tuesday and addressed the issues in a letter to Inspector General Tammy Hull.
Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts Ché Alexander told the senator's office that over 1,000 residents did not receive their letters from the court because they were marked "return to sender" during the week of June 3.
"In the end of May we received over 1,100 pieces of returned mail from the US Post Office. Some of the mail was dated back from 2021, when we we attempted to get notice to people for court dates," Alexander told reporters on Tuesday.
Alexander added bench warrants and additional rulings were issued in the interim. Until the mail was returned, it was not known that people did not receive notices. She said the problems have persisted.
"There was a bond hearing scheduled, and judges crossed this courtroom this morning full of victims. The courtroom was packed. Well, the attorney didn't get proper notice, so there was no court hearing today," she added.
Alexander stated she contacted Ossoff's office to bring attention to the problem and hopefully find a viable solution.
"If the Court's concern that this delay prevented notice in judicial proceedings is confirmed, this is a major example of both the importance of USPS and the consequences of its failures," Ossoff said in his letter.
The letter stated that notices from the court contained jury summons, hearings, orders from the court and other legal documents impacting residents.
Ossoff also stated in the letter that Alexander also raised the concern that some Georgia residents could have possibly been evicted because they did not receive the proper notice for a court hearing in the mail.
According to the letter, "one envelope was originally postmarked by the court in August 2021 and yet was just only stamped 'return to sender' on May 23."
11Alive previously interviewed Jack Rosenthal, who received a jury summons two months after he was initially supposed to appear and expressed concerns over the consequences.
"I'm thinking this thing was mailed out in March... had to have been if it was for jury service in April," Rosenthal said. "I was concerned that a bench warrant might have been issued, something like that."
Rosenthal added that he tried contacting Fulton County but did not get a response. When he looked up his juror status online, it was "ended."
Fulton County also sent a notice to property owners to check for updates about property taxes online and mail delays as a potential issue with the public receiving notices.
Ossoff asks that the inspector general review the reports to understand what may have caused the delay. 11Alive has contacted the USPS Office of Inspector General to see if they will open an investigation into this issue.