In the last statewide primary election two years ago, more than 12,500 mail-in ballots in Riverside County were nearly invalidated because of what postal officials described as “a change in process” that caused them to be delivered after Election Day. They were ultimately counted, but only after a judge ordered it. Secretary of State Debra Bowen now worries that an election nightmare on a much larger scale could be repeated this year unless the Postal Service delays its planned closure of 18 mail processing centers in California until after November’s presidential election. Bowen is appealing to postal officials and members of Congress to extend for six months a moratorium on the closures that is scheduled to expire May 15. ”This has the potential to leaves thousands and thousands of ballots uncounted,” Bowen said Wednesday. “We need the post office not to do it. It would be a profound disservice to democracy.”
A sample of what could be in store for much of the state already has been experienced in Ventura County, after a distribution center in Oxnard was closed in July. Bowen’s office reports that the closure increased the time required for vote-by-mail ballots to reach elections officials to five to seven days. It had been one to three days. The Oxnard center is one of three of the 18 targeted centers that already have been closed. Fifteen centers from San Diego to Redding are still on the chopping block.
“I’m in complete agreement with Secretary Bowen on what she’s trying to do,” said Ventura County Clerk-Recorder Mark Lunn, who last fall took extraordinary steps designed to ensure that no ballots would be left stranded at the new processing center for west county mail in Goleta.
Full Article: Closing of postal centers could cause trouble with mail ballots, Bowen says » Ventura County Star.
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