The United States Postal Service (USPS) is delaying the release of documents related to election integrity planning until after Election Day, creating questions about the security of ballots cast from overseas amid the Democratic Party’s push to mobilize voters abroad.
The Federal Voting Assistance Program, the government office tasked with assisting voters living outside our borders, estimates that 2.8 million eligible voters currently reside outside the United States. The Democratic Party, however, estimates that there are 9 million such voters and is spending $300,000 in a get-out-the-vote effort specifically tailored to them. Democrats Abroad did not respond to a request for comment on how it obtained its estimate.
Eligible voters abroad include military service members, military spouses, diplomats, and other Americans studying or working abroad. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) protects their right to vote, and a majority of completed UOCAVA ballots are returned by postal mail.
Postal mail in Georgia has been disastrous for much of this year, thanks to a new mail processing plant that opened in February in the tiny town of Palmetto. In March, less than 43% of the state’s First-Class Mail was delivered on time. People missed bills and legal notices and ran out of prescription medications, through no fault of their own.
Months later, more than 20% of inbound First-Class Mail is still being delivered late, according to the USPS performance dashboard. If this continues through the election, the United States Postal Service (USPS) is on track to disenfranchise thousands of would-be voters. Meanwhile, USPS is trying to assuage public concern by adding additional pickups and deliveries and expediting election mail, among other measures.
On August 30, I filed a public records request asking the USPS to release emails, text messages, and other records from ten officials related to the security of mail-in ballots, including overseas ballots, being returned to Georgia. Federal transparency law requires the USPS to respond within 20 business days in the absence of “unusual circumstances.” On October 10, the USPS told me that “unusual circumstances” apply, and it was granting itself an extension of another 20 working days. Conveniently for them, that places the new deadline three days after Election Day.
Incompetence at the USPS leaves mail-in ballots vulnerable to the most obvious form of voter fraud, in which legal ballots do not get counted. But UOCAVA ballots are also vulnerable to the form of fraud in which illegal ballots do get counted.
Several states accept UOCAVA ballots that arrive after Election Day so long as they were postmarked on or before Election Day. Georgia is one of these states, with a three-day grace period; Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina each have even more generous return policies and thus even a larger span of time for fraud to take place.
The Democratic Party claims to know exactly how many UOCAVA voters are eligible to vote in each swing state, as evidenced by a handy chart included in their press release. In Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin, the DNC says the number of UOCAVA voters is higher than the margin by which Biden won the state in 2020.
The DNC created a dedicated registration site for UOCAVA voters, which has the added benefit of transmitting a voter’s information through Democratic Party-owned servers when anyone uses the site to register or to request a ballot. Voters may not realize this: The site’s home page appears politically neutral, save for small text in the bottom right identifying the site as being paid for by the Democratic Party Committee Abroad. The site claims it does not store sensitive information nor have access to it, though other information is stored for 90 days following the election.
Should the Democrats be less than truthful about which data they store and access, they would find themselves equipped with nearly everything it would take to submit fake ballots. They would not even need the ballots sent out by states: Voters abroad who are registered but do not receive a ballot in time may use the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB), a blank ballot not tailored to any state or district, and send it to their polling place. While this is well-intentioned to protect the voting rights of Americans abroad, the FWAB requires only basic information from a voter, including their address and signature.
The future of this country hinges on a free and fair election with no room for doubting its integrity. The current UOCAVA voting system, combined with poor performance by the USPS, leaves our election integrity at risk.
* * *
Angela Morabito is a visiting fellow at Independent Women’s Forum (iwf.org) and the spokesperson for the Defense of Freedom Institute.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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[[{“value”:”
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is delaying the release of documents related to election integrity planning until after Election Day, creating questions about the security of ballots cast from overseas amid the Democratic Party’s push to mobilize voters abroad.
The Federal Voting Assistance Program, the government office tasked with assisting voters living outside our borders, estimates that 2.8 million eligible voters currently reside outside the United States. The Democratic Party, however, estimates that there are 9 million such voters and is spending $300,000 in a get-out-the-vote effort specifically tailored to them. Democrats Abroad did not respond to a request for comment on how it obtained its estimate.
Eligible voters abroad include military service members, military spouses, diplomats, and other Americans studying or working abroad. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) protects their right to vote, and a majority of completed UOCAVA ballots are returned by postal mail.
Postal mail in Georgia has been disastrous for much of this year, thanks to a new mail processing plant that opened in February in the tiny town of Palmetto. In March, less than 43% of the state’s First-Class Mail was delivered on time. People missed bills and legal notices and ran out of prescription medications, through no fault of their own.
Months later, more than 20% of inbound First-Class Mail is still being delivered late, according to the USPS performance dashboard. If this continues through the election, the United States Postal Service (USPS) is on track to disenfranchise thousands of would-be voters. Meanwhile, USPS is trying to assuage public concern by adding additional pickups and deliveries and expediting election mail, among other measures.
On August 30, I filed a public records request asking the USPS to release emails, text messages, and other records from ten officials related to the security of mail-in ballots, including overseas ballots, being returned to Georgia. Federal transparency law requires the USPS to respond within 20 business days in the absence of “unusual circumstances.” On October 10, the USPS told me that “unusual circumstances” apply, and it was granting itself an extension of another 20 working days. Conveniently for them, that places the new deadline three days after Election Day.
Incompetence at the USPS leaves mail-in ballots vulnerable to the most obvious form of voter fraud, in which legal ballots do not get counted. But UOCAVA ballots are also vulnerable to the form of fraud in which illegal ballots do get counted.
Several states accept UOCAVA ballots that arrive after Election Day so long as they were postmarked on or before Election Day. Georgia is one of these states, with a three-day grace period; Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina each have even more generous return policies and thus even a larger span of time for fraud to take place.
The Democratic Party claims to know exactly how many UOCAVA voters are eligible to vote in each swing state, as evidenced by a handy chart included in their press release. In Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin, the DNC says the number of UOCAVA voters is higher than the margin by which Biden won the state in 2020.
The DNC created a dedicated registration site for UOCAVA voters, which has the added benefit of transmitting a voter’s information through Democratic Party-owned servers when anyone uses the site to register or to request a ballot. Voters may not realize this: The site’s home page appears politically neutral, save for small text in the bottom right identifying the site as being paid for by the Democratic Party Committee Abroad. The site claims it does not store sensitive information nor have access to it, though other information is stored for 90 days following the election.
Should the Democrats be less than truthful about which data they store and access, they would find themselves equipped with nearly everything it would take to submit fake ballots. They would not even need the ballots sent out by states: Voters abroad who are registered but do not receive a ballot in time may use the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB), a blank ballot not tailored to any state or district, and send it to their polling place. While this is well-intentioned to protect the voting rights of Americans abroad, the FWAB requires only basic information from a voter, including their address and signature.
The future of this country hinges on a free and fair election with no room for doubting its integrity. The current UOCAVA voting system, combined with poor performance by the USPS, leaves our election integrity at risk.
* * *
Angela Morabito is a visiting fellow at Independent Women’s Forum (iwf.org) and the spokesperson for the Defense of Freedom Institute.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
“}]]
