HOUSTON — In a news conference Wednesday, officials with the U.S. Postal Services provided an update on their handling of election mail. It’s the second USPS update in as many months, with the general election less than two weeks away.
USPS Chief Customer and Marketing Officer Steven Monteith encouraged voters to send their mail ballots as early as possible. He also cited “strong” performance data that shows mostly on-time delivery of recent mail ballots.
“In the first three weeks of October, ballot mail performance scores were high with 97.8 percent of ballot mail delivered on time when compared with our services standards and 99.9% has been delivered within 7 days," he said.
Officials confirmed that USPS had also begun its “extraordinary measures” on Monday, commencing a series of efforts to move mail ballots through the system quickly.
USPS Director of Election and Government Mail Service Adrienne Marshall explained the measures would run through election day and extend to the last day boards of elections in each state accept mail ballots.
“Extraordinary measures include are but are not limited to extra deliveries and collections, special pickups, specialized sort plans and at processing facilities to expedite deliveries to boards of elections and local handling and transportation of ballots,” she said.
Despite those efforts, some Houston-area voters tell KHOU 11 News they have concerns about the vote-by-mail process in light of the city’s ongoing mail problems. Harris County residents James and Kay Smith are among those who feel they have reason to be worried.
The Smiths waited more than three weeks for their mail ballots to be delivered. The couple said they “magically” received their ballots Monday after sharing their story with KHOU 11 News a few days earlier on Oct. 18. The Smiths said they were previously advised they may need a replacement ballot.
“Did the news story make somebody realize they stuck it in the corner, is that mail system that inept, or did something happen a Harris Votes? Just a lot of questions,” James Smith said.
With election day fast approaching, the couple said they’ll take different approaches when they mail their ballots back. Kay plans to drop hers off at a post office while James said he’ll hand his ballot directly to a mail carrier. When asked, the Smiths said they had concerns about their ballots being counted.
“I’m a little nervous about it,” Kay Smith said. “But I’m going to go ahead and use the mail ballot. That’s part of democracy that every ballot gets counted so we’re depending on the U.S. Postal Service to do its job.”
In Texas, the final day to request a mail ballot or replacement mail ballot is Oct. 25.