A senior US Postal Service official told colleagues at a meeting on Thursday that “supply chain” issues could delay ballots from getting to voters on time, The Daily Beast reports.
A senior official told the agency’s leaders at the first task force meeting assembled after Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s testimony to Congress that printers used by states are overwhelmed by the projected number of mail ballots that will be sent in the fall.
"With the dramatic increase of ballots compared to previous elections, in some cases a tenfold increase in the number of ballots in some states, there are some issues in the supply chain," the official said. "Some of these printers… just don't have the capacity they were used to in prior elections."
"Despite the heroic efforts I know you guys will pursue to get that ballot in the hands of voters," the official added, "the reality is, that's going to be a difficult situation for that voter to have their vote counted."
USPS says it’s states’ issue:
David Partenheimer, a spokesman for the USPS, told The Daily Beast that the supply chain issues are a matter for states to deal with but added that the agency "does work to assist and educate ballot producers in their mail piece design."
"The Postal Service will continue with these efforts, but it is unrelated to the Postal Service's complete readiness to deliver any Election Mail that is presented to us, and we will do so in a timely and secure manner consistent with our longstanding processes and procedures that we have utilized for years," he said.
"The Postmaster General has made it clear that we are ready to deliver for the November election and are committed to fulfilling our role in the electoral process when public policy makers choose to utilize us as part of their election system," he added.
Officials say supply chain is an excuse:
One official who attended the meeting told the Daily Beast that the discussion about the printing issues were a “cover for leadership's failures."
"Generally, the feeling is that DeJoy doesn't know what he's doing, and his senior staff is not managing him," a USPS official told the outlet.
