PALMETTO, Ga. — A report from the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General found a "lack of preparation for election processes" earlier this year, ahead of the presidential primaries, at the Atlanta regional mail center that has been the source of delays and political outcry since it went into operation earlier this year.
The report sheds new light on how the Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto struggled with election mail earlier this year -- including a finding that the day before March 12 this year, trucks were waiting 20 hours at the facility.
The report also included a seemingly frank admission from Atlanta management: "At the Atlanta RPDC, management stated the Election and Political Mail processes were not properly prioritized."
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Data show there has been substantial improvement since performance nosedived earlier this year following the opening of the new, consolidated regional processing and distribution center in Palmetto -- part of the USPS "Delivering for America" system modernization drive. But between December 2023 and April 2024, OIG auditors inspected 15 mail processing facilities to determine the state of the mail system's readiness ahead of this year's general election -- including Atlanta's, where auditors specifically found two main issues.
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One issue concerned the "lack of preparation for election processes" and another concerned truck wait times.
The report cited the lack of election preparedness as one example: "Management did not create separate staging areas throughout the facility to identify and isolate Election and Political Mail."
It additionally found:
- "The facility did not have updated Election and Political Mail logs to document the receipt and processing of that mail."
- "Further, management was non-compliant with their all-clear certification during the primary election. This indicated they did not verify that all operations were clear of Election Mail, including ballots, on the primary election day."
Regarding truck wait times, the report said that on March 11, the day before the presidential primary in Georgia, "we observed numerous trucks lined up to drop off their mail and packages at the Atlanta RPDC."
"Management at the RPDC stated the truck wait time was approximately 20 hours. We could not assess whether any of the trucks contained Election or Political Mail, creating a risk of delayed delivery," the report states.
The report included a picture of the lined-up trucks.
The report's response from Postal Service executives noted that the audit in Atlanta took place just 17 days after the facility opened.
The report acknowledged that "The Postal Service also said significant improvements have been made over the past few months in Georgia."
The OIG's evaluation of that response said it was "important to conduct observations and inform the Postal Service of any challenges we identified" and that "Making major operational changes days before a primary election could put ballots at risk."
The Postal Service executive response said election periods that have since followed in Georgia -- including the May primaries for local and state offices and June runoffs for those primaries -- went more smoothly.
"During the recent May and June Georgia elections, a cross-functional effort was deployed to coordinate all communication, logistics and mail processing activities," it stated.
In a statement on the audit, USPS said:
Regarding the recent report by the Office of the Inspector General, as you noted, the Postal Service’s response is included in the report. We have nothing further to offer on their findings.
The U.S. Postal Service is committed to the secure, timely delivery of the nation’s Election Mail. In 2024, just as we have in previous elections, we will deploy longstanding processes and procedures, as well as allocating additional resources, including, but not limited to, expanded processing procedures, extra transportation, extra delivery and collection trips, and overtime, to ensure that Election Mail reaches its intended destination in a timely manner.