There’s a lot of concern over the huge number of votes that will be cast by mail in this fall’s presidential election. But there’s also reason for optimism, as NBCLX’s Noah Pransky reports.
Voters in Broward County choosing to cast their vote by mail for November’s general election will have two dozen new locations to drop off their ballots amid concerns over potential slowdowns within the United States Postal Service.
The county announced Monday that 24 secure locations will be placed across the area in response to questions from voters during the primary elections that took place earlier in August.
“Given the number of calls related to USPS and alternatives for ballot delivery, it was important to notify the public of the available options as ballots are mailed between September 19th and October 24th,” Supervisor of Elections Peter Antonacci said in a statement.
The coronavirus pandemic inspired many to vote by mail during the primary elections across Florida. More than 2.1 million people had cast mail-in ballots compared to fewer than 1.3 million in the 2016 primary.
Unlike 2016, when there were primaries for U.S. Senate that helped drive up turnout, there are no statewide races on the August 2020 ballot.
South Florida postal workers held a protest last week, calling changes inside the postal system an attempt to undermine mail delivery with the fall election on the horizon.
The postal employees are at odds with their boss, US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, over efforts he says are to improve service. The dispute comes less than a month before vote by mail ballots start going out to South Florida voters.
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A group of postal workers stood outside a post office in downtown Miami Tuesday, saying they really don’t want to get into any politics, but claim the man who President Donald Trump appointed in June to run the post office is making debilitating changes that are slowing down the mail already and could have an impact on mail-in ballots being counted.
"The postal service belongs to the people. We are the postal workers but the postal service belongs to the people," said Wanda Harris, the president of the local postal worker's union.
One special area of concern voiced by Harris and two Democratic Congresswomen, who were at Tuesday's protest, is mail-in ballots and them getting to the elections departments on time this fall.
“Just yesterday in the House Oversight Committee we saw Postmaster General admit that under his leadership service has been delayed, and also admit that he will not reverse any changes and the damage has already been done," Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell said.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy denied your vote will be slowed.
“The Postal Service is capable and committed to delivering the nation’s election mail securely and on time,” DeJoy said last week.
