A federal judge ordered another sweep of United States Postal Service facilities in Texas for Wednesday afternoon, checking for any outstanding mail-in ballots that could be eligible for counting.
www.kxan.com
815 mail-in ballots found in sweep of Texas USPS processing facilities
by:
Avery Travis
Posted: Nov 4, 2020 / 05:35 PM CST / Updated: Nov 4, 2020 / 06:58 PM CST
AUSTIN (KXAN) — After a federal judge ordered another sweep of United States Postal Service facilities in Texas for Wednesday afternoon, 815 mail-in ballots were recovered,
according to the Texas Tribune.
The additional sweep was to check for any outstanding mail-in ballots that could be eligible for counting. Any ballots postmarked on or before Election Day can be counted, if they are received by 5 p.m. the following day.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan first instructed USPS to conduct searches at 27 facilities in battleground states by Tuesday afternoon. The agency said it could not complete the judge’s order under his timeframe but noted it had already conducted morning checks at processing hubs and planned another check before polling places closed on Tuesday.
According to the Associated Press, USPS inspectors found 13 ballots as a result of their checks, all in Pennsylvania.
After judge’s order, Postal Service sweep finds 13 ballots
Justice Department attorneys said it was “not possible” for Postal Inspectors to meet judge’s deadline at all the requested facilities in the order without disrupting the agency’s own Election Day operations.
In a hearing on Wednesday, Sullivan said “someone might have a price to pay for that.” He followed his frustrated comments with an order for an additional sweep of mail processing facilities in Texas by that afternoon.
Travis County Clerk Dana De Beauvoir said they conducted their own additional check of the processing facilities on Election Day and are confident all eligible mail-in ballots will be received in time to be counted.
Williamson County’s Elections Administrator, Chris Davis, said their staff conducted three post office runs on Election Day and another run at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
He said, “we’re confident in our local USPS branch’ ability to have delivered all the mail ballots to us that are in their possession by deadline.”
A
federal audit from earlier this year found thousands of unprocessed ballots at some facilities in Oklahoma, along with mail-in ballots and other political mail not delivered on time, following primary and special election races there.