How will post office delays impact absentee voting? Macon officials discuss concerns

The increase in absentee voting due to the coronavirus pandemic is expected to cause a surge in mail for the U.S. Postal Service in advance of the November election, with Macon election officials predicting up to 20,000 absentee ballots.

Highly publicized modifications to the postal service by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy — such as limiting overtime and removing mail sorting machines — have resulted in mail delays and concerns about the agency’s ability to handle the flood of voting mail. Democrats and voting rights advocates have criticized DeJoy’s changes as politically motivated.

DeJoy, a former Republican Party fundraiser who was appointed by President Donald Trump in May, defended those cuts late last month in a Congressional hearing, while agreeing to halt some of the changes until after the November presidential election.

In Macon, concerns about DeJoy’s changes have been highlighted by politicians and union representatives.

Carlos Castellucci, the branch president of the mail handlers in Macon, said as soon as DeJoy announced that mail carriers would have to get used to leaving mail behind, he saw packages left at the distribution center.

“That’s a real concern because… you have life saving medications. They got to get out to the elderly, veterans, and that’s a very chief concern about getting those medications to people that need it,” he said. “We’ve got to keep the mail moving. That’s our job. That’s our service.”

Castellucci said he couldn’t answer questions about preparations for the election because he hasn’t been told anything yet.

Rep. Sanford Bishop, whose 2nd Congressional District includes Bibb County, visited the U.S. Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center in Macon late last month to address concerns constituents have presented to him about delays in receiving their mail.

“The Postal Service is the thread that weaves and holds together the fabric of our country. It is how people are able to communicate, how they are able to be connected,” he said. “As we move into the election, expecting because of COVID-19 to have a surge in the mail in terms of mail-in ballots, we want to make sure that the Postal Service is adequately staffed and adequately equipped to handle the mail so that it can be processed timely.”

Bishop said the postal service typically has a hiring surge before the holidays to accommodate the increase in mail. He advocated for the surge to happen before the election to prepare for the increase in voting by mail.

Security at the Post Office

Kwajalyn Cornelius-Grace, president of the American Postal Worker Union in the Middle Georgia area, said the postal workers didn’t choose the postmaster general, and they are doing the best they can with what they have.

“I believe that what has been generated down from Washington is going to severely cripple us in making that happen, and it will lead one to wonder if that was a calculated move because we see no other reason,” she said. “We are working beyond our daily capacity.”

Cornelius-Grace said her mother will be voting by mail along with many other people who can’t get out to vote. Her main concern with the election is having adequate staffing in order to handle the surge in mail.

Mail-in fraud is not a significant concern for her. Post offices have staging areas where all of the ballots are temporarily stored and processed, and there isn’t enough time or space in that process for any tampering, she said.

“We are just like the public. All the people that are calling in with their concerns, we have the same concerns,” she said. “We are so busy. There’s not enough time to do anything. So, security is just the last thing on my list.”

Absentee ballots and early voting

In Macon-Bibb County alone, more than 18,000 people submitted absentee ballots for the general election in June and 10,397 absentee ballots were submitted for the runoff election in August.

Mike Kaplan, chairperson of the Macon-Bibb Board of Elections, said the Board of Elections expects a 72%t turnout for the November election in the fall, which is double the turnout for the runoff election.

Because of the expected voter turnout, Kaplan said he wouldn’t be surprised if they had around 20,000 absentee ballots submitted for the November election.

Letters were sent to states in July from Thomas J. Marshall, general counsel for the Postal Service, warning states that the deadline to request an absentee ballot should be at least 15 days before the election.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross extended the deadline for absentee ballots to be returned in Georgia to three days after the election, as long as they were postmarked on Election Day. The ruling invalidates Georgia’s requirement that all absentee ballots had to be received by county election offices by 7 p.m. on Election Day, according to the AJC.

Kaplan said absentee voting is a safe and secure way for people who can’t leave their homes during the COVID-19 virus outbreak to vote, and he believes it improves voter turnout, he said.

“I don’t think the pandemic is going to get better. I think it’s going to be about where we are now, which means that the more people to vote absentee and early, the better off we are,” Kaplan said.

This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM.