Las Vegas, Nev. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and five congressional colleagues in a letter to state election officials requesting information on the impact of delays to election mail, delivery time and prices for election mail, any changes made to state requirements in light of election mail delays and other important information for investigating operational and policy changes at the U.S. Postal Office.
“On August 6, we launched a Senate investigation into the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) after numerous reports surfaced of changes to USPS policy that have resulted in delays in processing and delivering mail. We are concerned that these recent operational changes will undermine the delivery of election mail and make it more expensive for jurisdictions to send and receive election mail and ballots in a timely way,” wrote the senators. “On August 18, USPS announced it was suspending certain operational changes until after the November election. However, our investigation will continue to understand the impact these changes may have already had on elections this year and their potential impact if implemented in the future. This letter represents a request for information as part of our investigation.”
BACKGROUND:
This action follows the letters sent from the Postal Service to 46 states warning that their deadlines for election mail conflict with USPS delivery times and could result in ballots arriving after state deadlines. In addition, changes to long-standing practices at USPS would disenfranchise voters and result in increased delivery times and costs for election mail.
Last week, Senator Cortez Masto hosted a virtual roundtable with USPS workers in Nevada to discuss procedural changes by the Postmaster General that are impacting mail deliveries and to thank them for serving Nevada communities as essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A full copy of the letter can be found HERE.
###