USPS mail delivery delays are hindering Columbus absentee ballots. How to get yours

The delays in the U.S. Postal Service mail delivery that have frustrated folks for months in the Columbus area now are hindering their ability to receive and submit absentee ballots.

One week before the May 21 primary and nonpartisan election, less than 15% of the 1,392 absentee ballots the Muscogee County Elections and Registration Office mailed to voters have been submitted, according to office director Nancy Boren.

Normally, at least half of the mailed absentee ballots have been submitted this close to an election, Boren told the Ledger-Enquirer.

She urges anyone who has received an absentee ballot and wants to ensure their vote counts before the 7 p.m. deadline on Election Day to submit it in the ballot collection drop box at the City Services Center, 3111 Citizens Way, or at the election office in the same building.

Those who have requested but haven’t received an absentee ballot should notify the election office via email at MuscogeeAbsenteeDelivery@columbusga.gov or by calling 706-653-4392, Boren said.

“We’re just trying to understand the problem,” she said. “We need to know the numbers (of unsubmitted absentee ballots) so we can track it. I don’t know if people aren’t returning their ballot or they haven’t received it.”

Based on the hundreds of calls and emails her office has received about the problem, Boren said, she suspects most of the unsubmitted absentee ballots are because voters who requested them haven’t received them. The office mailed the absentee ballots April 26 and 27, she said.

State law forbids absentee ballots to be picked up in person, Boren said. Friday was the deadline for absentee ballots to be requested for this election.

For those unable or choosing not to vote in person at their precinct May 21, early voting will remain open through May 17, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at three locations in Columbus: City Services Center, Columbus Technical College and Shirley Winston Recreation Center.

If you have requested an absentee ballot, you still may vote in person early or on Election Day, Boren said.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has attributed the delays to the USPS restructuring plan, designed to make the postal service financially self-sufficient and better able to compete with private delivery companies FedEx and UPS.

Under the plan, USPS is consolidating local mail distribution offices into regional centers. Georgia and Virginia are the first states where USPS has implemented the plan. The consolidation in Georgia involved moving nearly 10,000 employees from 10 locations to the new Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto, the Capitol Beat News Service reported.

During a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing last month. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said only 36% of inbound mail handled by the new center was being delivered on time as of the end of February.

If this week’s report from Boren is any indication, the problem hasn’t gotten better and seems to have gotten worse.

During the March presidential primary, Boren noticed a slowdown in the rate of submitted absentee ballots, but the problem wasn’t as critical as it is now. That’s why, she said, “We’re looking at options for November other than USPS.”

Boren declined to specify a vendor, but she noted FedEx and UPS are alternatives the Muscogee election board could choose to bypass the government’s service.

“Our postage budget is rather robust ($50,000) for the upcoming year,” she said. “I think we would have the funding.”