Key takeaways:
- Georgia elections officials rely heavily on the unreliable post office to ensure “clean” voter rolls
- The USPS has been a part of list maintenance procedures since we started keeping registration lists
- Some federal lawmakers have raised concerns about the postal service’s poor performance, particularly in metro Atlanta
(ExpressTelegraph.com) — Georgia elections officials rely heavily on the unreliable post office to ensure “clean” voter rolls, which they contend are “the cleanest voter rolls of any state in the country.”
That’s even despite the United States Postal Service’s abysmal service record in metro Atlanta and Georgia, a record so bad it’s caught the attention of a U.S. senator from the state.
Consider the case of a DeKalb County voter who has lived at the same address for years and has cast a ballot in most, if not all, elections for decades.
The voter contacted ExpressTelegraph.com about a concern with their voter registration status, which has recently toggled back and forth between active and inactive. The on-again, off-again change apparently stems from the post office’s failure to deliver an election document.
“The USPS has been a part of list maintenance procedures since we started keeping registration lists,” Mike Hassinger, a spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, told ExpressTelegraph.com via email. “Their problems, however, are recent.”
Hassinger said that if a county office mails a document to a voter, such as a precinct card, and it is returned as “undeliverable,” the county sends another correspondence alerting the voter that they’re going to be moved to inactive status if they don’t respond to the second letter.
“That’s good list maintenance,” Hassinger said. “Being moved to inactive status is not an inconvenience for any voter, who can still vote just as easily as before, and will be moved back to active status as soon as they vote.”
Election officials point out that if the first letter is returned, the procedure is to notify the voter and that they are not removing the voter from the rolls. Instead, simply moving them into inactive status and notifying them of the change in their status.
“If the second letter isn’t returned, it could have been forwarded, ignored by the voter, or thrown away by a new resident,” Hassinger said. “It’s not proof that the voter’s address hasn’t changed.”
Hassinger said that if an election official has a voter’s phone number or email, the official can contact a voter using one of those methods. However, he added that the address is the only piece of data used to assign that voter to a precinct and that every voter record has, which is why officials use it.
“Any database is a static snapshot -but people are not,” Hassinger added. “They move, they die, they change their names, update their driver’s licenses, get married or become felons every day. We keep up with more than 8.2 million voters in Georgia. We’ve got the cleanest voter rolls of any state in the country, and the returned mail notification process is just one way we keep it that way.”
Ongoing concerns
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, and U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Georgia, are among the federal lawmakers have repeatedly raised concerns about the postal service’s poor performance in metro Atlanta. In August, Ossoff blamed the postmaster general for transitioning to a new regional distribution center model anchored at the new Regional Processing and Distribution Center (RPDC) in Palmetto, Georgia, while undertaking other changes throughout metro Atlanta.
Excerpts from a letter sent on Sept. 18
- “Our constituents and all residents of Georgia—most of whom have always viewed the USPS as reliable—depend on the delivery of mail to pay their bills, receive their paychecks, file their taxes, and send their ballots. However, over the past year, many of our constituents have lost faith in mail delivery by the USPS in Georgia due to delays caused by the implementation of the United States Postal Service Delivering for America (DFA) Plan. As members of the United States House of Representatives, we have received many calls from constituents frustrated with the abrupt delay in delivery and receipt of their mail due to processing issues at the Atlanta RPDC.”
- “With that in mind, ensuring the integrity of absentee ballots is crucial for maintaining trust in the democratic process. Voting is a sacred right and the most important tool in shaping our republic. The USPS plays a crucial role in processing mail-in ballots during elections and is tasked with working closely with local and state election officials to ensure the secure delivery of absentee ballots.”
- “The state of Georgia allows absentee ballots to be requested any time between 78 and 11 calendar days prior to Election Day, and all absentee ballots must arrive at their county election office by Election Day. We want assurances that the USPS will be able to guarantee delivery and return of the absentee ballots in such a short turnaround time of at least 11 days.”