An anonymous whistleblower alleged the U.S. Postal Service’s technical system for monitoring mail-in voting could have major ramifications for the midterm elections if implemented.
“The apparently sloppy and rushed manner in which the Federal Ballot Mail Portal and supporting IT systems are being built poses significant risk,” a whistleblower complaint states.
“Potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all,” the document reads. “The Whistleblower’s assessment and recitation of the facts around the risky and haphazard development of the project is a compelling warning of catastrophic failure which could derail the midterm elections.”
Whistleblower Aid sent the anonymous whistleblower disclosure to Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who issued a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner on Monday about the agency’s “fatally flawed” plan for handling mail-in voting this November.
USPS is complying with President Donald Trump’s executive order directing the agency to deliver mail ballots to U.S. citizens vetted by the administration.
“This administration seems hell-bent on changing the framework of casting ballots in this country, clearly for political reasons,” Blumenthal told reporters. “It is unconstitutional, as is argued in the courts by the litigation that is ongoing, but this disclosure indicates that it is also blatantly incompetent and incapable of actually delivering ballots that are lawful in this midterm election.”
The whistleblower complaint highlights the magnitude of the problem that USPS faces in rushing to scan mail ballots.
“As presently designed, if even one bar code on one single ballot in a bulk-mailing of 10,000 ballots fails to properly scan during the verification process, the entire batch is rejected and sent back to the state — effectively stopping the ballots from being mailed to voters,” the complaint says. “Even under ordinary circumstances this would be problematic because of predictable errors in any barcode scanning process.”
JUDGE DENIES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BID TO LIFT TEMPORARY BLOCK ON MAIL-BALLOT ORDER
Since returning to office last year, Trump has been trying to safeguard mail-in voting from anyone who is not a U.S. citizen. His efforts, however, are being challenged in court.
On Monday, a federal judge denied the administration’s bid to lift a prior order temporarily blocking the USPS rule that allows federal monitoring of mail ballots. The federal government is appealing the latest order while the rule remains paused.