Tray of Undelivered 2020 Mail-in Ballots Discovered in Baltimore Postal Facility – Opinion

A tray containing mail-in ballots for the 2020 general election that were never delivered was discovered in early August — of 2022 — at a Baltimore postal facility.

The good news is that these were blank outgoing ballots and were sent to the voters who requested them. They were not completed ballots/votes which never reached their destination, so they were not counted. Also, there were only 26 ballots in the tray.

The discovery doesn’t change the fact that mail-in voting can have its pitfalls.  WMAR Reports:

While mail-in ballots are meant to be prioritized but they weren’t delivered to a block in Southeast Baltimore for nearly two years, their delivery was delayed by the fact that it had been almost two decades since they should have.

“I received my 2020 General Election ballot on August 6, 2022,” said Nick Frisone, who contacted WMAR-2 News after receiving his ballot. He recently got his ballot from Highlandtown neighbors.

Frisone was aware that his ballot had been lost. Frisone received an email from Informed Delivery on September 29th 2020 informing him that his ballot would soon be delivered.

“And then it just never came, so then I had to call the Board of Elections and then I had to go in-person to get a replacement,” said Frisone.

Thanks to Informed Delivery Frisone knew the problem and was able rectify it. He has since rethought his strategy and learned from the situation.

One third of votes in the Primary Election were cast via mail-in ballots, proving that voters love this option. Frisone, however, said it’s not worth the risk or the wait.

“It’s supposed to be easy to vote this way, but when the post office misplaces them, we can’t,” said Frisone.

“Do you think you’ll ever go back to mail-in voting?” Sofastaii asked him.

“Probably not. I mean, if there’s another pandemic, I’ll get a hazmat suit and just go in-person,” Frisone responded.

Ideally, that’s the attitude most voters would/will adopt, despite the push in recent years — largely by the left — to move toward predominantly (if not exclusively) mail-in voting. It seems counter-productive to make the US Postal Service an integral part the electoral process, especially given recent issues.  See, e.g. here, here, or here.

In fact, this story isn’t the only issue that’s surfaced regarding election-related mailing issues.  According to the Federalist

Two years ago, the USPS conducted an audit of election mail and found that some 68,000 pieces of election materials for the Baltimore mayor primary sat undelivered for five days before the June 2 election. Many of the campaign materials were not delivered to Marylanders until they had cast their ballots.

Incumbent Democratic Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young placed fifth in the primary. Young was moderate and probusiness. Young raised the most money, but he was beaten by a progressive candidate who enjoyed substantial union support, Brandon Scott. Of the late mail, Young speculated, “That might the reason why I didn’t get a lot of votes.”

In what might have been a case of projection, two months later, Maryland Democrats accused the USPS under President Trump of deliberately slowing mail delivery to sabotage the November election. Notably, the president of Baltimore’s American Postal Workers Union promised, “Your mail will be delivered … you will get your vote counted.

As for this latest incident, USPS spokesman Tom Oulette responded to WMAR’s inquiry with the following e-mail:

“Regarding ballots seen in photographs from a customer’s email, the Postal Service discovered a tray of undelivered mail in a Baltimore facility on Friday, Aug. 5. The tray’s mail was from year 2020 and contained what appeared to be 26 blank ballots mailed from the Baltimore City Board of Election to addresses with a Baltimore ZIP Code. These mailpieces arrived Saturday, August 6.

We are deeply sorry for the delayed delivery of these mailpieces. This is a serious issue that the Postal Service will address. All employees are encouraged to review our process and procedures before they go ahead with general elections. U.S. Postal Service is fully committed to the secure, timely delivery of the nation’s Election Mail. We are in close communication with the Baltimore City Election Board and look forward to a successful election in November.”

Armstead Jones, Baltimore City Election Director, said that the USPS was not what they heard about the issue. This is not very encouraging.

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