The House Appropriations Committee held a hearing on Sept. 26, titled “United States Postal Service’s Role in 2024 Election Mail Readiness.” The postmaster general told lawmakers that the postal service makes sure all ballots are being handled correctly.
The United States Postal Service is expected to be busy during this year's presidential election.
The use of mail-in ballots keeps increasing. Congress today probing possible security issues
that come with the use of mail-in ballots. NTD's Arian Pazdar has the highlights from the House
hearing. It is imperative that the Postal Service get this right. The House Appropriations Committee
on Thursday investigating the role the United States Postal Service or USPS plays in this year's
election. The Postmaster General told lawmakers that the Postal Service makes sure all ballots
are being handled correctly. Our hand control throughout the system is a reliable hand control.
Our people see ballots, they dive on them. There's been very, very, very, very little proven
other types of issues with us. The committee's chairman says the use of mail-in ballots
increased by 25 percent from 2016 to 2020, and he's expecting the rise to continue this year.
Congressman Jerry Cole asked about the process of dropping off mail-in ballots,
specifically the number of ballots a single person could theoretically hand in.
No one's bringing you a, okay, that's what I'm getting at. No one can bring you a pallet full of
individual. In fact, if we postmark, you cannot, if once we postmark that ballot,
you can't take it back. So when I put my ballot in that box, that is Postal Service mail at that
point. Postal Service mail. And your employees are going to pay. Thank you. Congressman Matt
Cartwright from Pennsylvania asked the Postmaster General about a plan to cut costs after the
election. The plan was postponed to make sure ballots get delivered smoothly, but the congressman
says cost-cutting measures will still seriously affect everyday Americans. People rely on the
Postal Service. They'll deliver their prescriptions, social security checks,
other important mail. Faced with delays, rural Americans will experience longer delivery times
or be forced to pay higher prices to commercial delivery companies, which is unacceptable.
And I think it's an unfair accusation, considering the condition that the Postal
Service has been allowed to get to. We are not consolidating. I have opened operations
around the nation. We have put sorting and delivery centers
in communities that were old, abandoned plants throughout the nation. He added that the USPS
plans to cut costs in a way that won't affect Americans too much. Ariane Pastar, NTD News.
