One metro county says to get absentee ballot applications in ASAP because of postal delays
The Cherokee County Office of Elections and Voter Registration is urging voters across the county who want to vote by absentee ballot for the upcoming May primary to get their applications in ASAP.
The reason? Delays with the Postal Service’s Palmetto distribution center.
“We have always strived to process absentee applications and absentee ballots as quickly as possible,” Cherokee Elections Director Anne Dover said on Monday. “Please apply for your absentee ballot early and send it back to us as soon as possible. This will allow for ample time for us to receive it.”
Channel 2 Action News reported on the delays at the distribution center last week.
The facility is supposed to constantly have trucks moving in and out. But NewsChopper 2 and NewsDrone 2 both got a bird’s eye view of just how many trucks were sitting still at the facility, and it was dozens.
Each of those trucks is full of mail that is meant to be taken to your home.
Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes spoke with a Postal Workers Union president, who said he knows exactly what the problem is and what it will take to keep drivers moving.
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“They’re supposed to stay there for 30 minutes and be gone, they’re staying there for four hours. So when they go there, it pretty much ends their route,” Mitchell Taylor, President of the American Postal Workers Union.
He says all the major problems in metro Atlanta stem from the new facility that opened three weeks ago.
“What they did was they moved machines and mail and a lot of operations down to the RPDC...it left a void where they’re saying we don’t need these people here, we need to move them elsewhere,” he explained. “You would think that would make it more efficient. The void that they left behind was so great, that they don’t have enough people left behind to do the mail working the mail.”
He said supervisors had to step in, but they’re not used to doing certain jobs and are slowing down operations.
“While a vast majority of mail in the Atlanta area is being delivered in a timely manner, local management has been made aware of the concerns of some local customers regarding their mail delivery and are working quickly to resolve any issues,” the Postal Service said in a statement.
“Residents have the option of voting at one of the early or advanced voting precincts for the upcoming May 21, 2024, General Primary,” Cherokee County said in a news release.
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