By Jim Ellis — Monday, Sept. 23, 2024
USPS
Postal Service — The members of two major election officials’ organizations, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors, sent a joint letter to US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in an early attempt to frame what could be another controversial ballot counting dilemma as a Postal Service failure.
The former president of the Secretaries of State organization, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab (R), was already making negative comments toward the Postal Service just after the Aug. 6 primary when approximately 1,000 ballots couldn’t be counted because they arrived so late and without the necessary information indicating whether or not the parcel was mailed on or before Election Day. According to a quote in Schwab’s tweet as quoted in a PBS News article about the subject, he said, “the Pony Express is more efficient at this point.”
There is a good chance that we will again see political overtime in the November election because the national contest looks to be close, and several states, particularly in the west, take weeks to produce final results.
The latter instance will particularly affect determining the House majority. Currently, the Republicans have a five-vote majority, but the next Congress could feature an even smaller division between the two sides. If so, then the 12-14 competitive House races in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington could well determine which party will win control of the House chamber.
With the time change in comparison to the east coast and the exhaustive signature verification process that commences in California and now Arizona, and with Alaska and Washington waiting more than a week for all of the post-election ballots to be received, it is more than likely that the majority will not be determined on election night. This means it could be a number of weeks before many tight races are ultimately decided.
At the center of the Postal Service controversy is the length of time taken to transport mail from the sender to the recipient, in this case from the mailbox to the election offices. The Secretaries of State and Election Directors’ letter points out that often ballots are delivered beyond the allotted time, three to five days, that the Postal Service allows itself to deliver first class mail.
The other issue is the postmarks. Many state laws allow mail ballots to be received after the election, but only if the envelope is postmarked on or before election day. Now, however, most mail, and often ballots, come in envelopes with a bar code. While the electronic scanner can determine when the ballot was received, it can’t track when it was actually sent.
Another problem for election officials in some states, all-important Pennsylvania being one, is the elimination of what was commonly referred to as “Zuckerbucks.” In 2020, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated an aggregate of $400 million to various states and counties to help with the registration and counting process. Since many states then outlawed private citizens from contributing to the government, Zuckerburg is no longer making such contributions.
In Pennsylvania, for example, the lack of this extra funding has eliminated most of the controversial ballot drop boxes. In 2020, Zuckerbucks were used in many instances to pay for ballot drop box monitors, positions that are dictated under Pennsylvania law. Since the current election administration budgets apparently do not have monitors covered, most of the counties will no longer have ballot drop boxes because they don’t have the funds to pay for the individuals to control each site.
All of this suggests that we may have another chaotic political overtime period, so the Secretaries of State and Election Directors association members are already laying the groundwork to push the Postal Service front and center. This will force the mail officials to shoulder the blame for the expected post-election ballot counting controversies.
NJ-10
Special Election — Last week, voters in the Newark metropolitan area went to the polls to replace the late Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. (D-Newark), who passed away in late April.
The winner of last night’s special election is, as expected, Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver (D). She captured 81 percent of the vote from a turnout that will barely reach 30,000 voters. Upon certification of the results, McIver will immediately be sworn into the House to complete the balance of the current term. She is then the prohibitive favorite to win a full term in the November general election.
With McIver’s election, the House party division count is now 220R – 212D with three vacancies (2D and 1R). The other seats, in New Jersey, Texas, and Wisconsin, will all be filled concurrently with the November 5th general election.
