Federal judge gives US Postal Service just HOURS to sweep facilities in swing states including Pennsylvania and Florida to ensure no ballots are left behind as election vote count gets under way
A federal judge has given the U.S. Postal Service just hours to sweep some mail processing facilities for delayed ballots and and dispatch them immediately as the 2020 Presidential Election vote count gets underway.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered postal officials to complete the inspections by 3 pm and certify by 4:30 pm EST that no ballots were left behind.
Affected by the order are facilities in central Pennsylvania, northern New England, greater South Carolina, south Florida, Colorado, Arizona, Alabama and Wyoming.
Officials at postal facilities in big cities must also sign off on the sweep.
They include mail centers located in Atlanta, Georgia; Houston, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Detroit, Michigan; and Lakeland, Florida.
US District Judge has ordered postal officials in swing states to sweep USPS facilities by 3pm to make sure no ballots have been left behind
A worker wearing a protective mask collects mail-in ballots to scan from a U.S Postal Service bin at the Miami-Dade Elections Department in Florida. The postal service has said it had delivered 122 million blank and completed ballots before Tuesday
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought by groups such as Vote Forward, a voting rights organization, and Latino community groups.
Many states will only count mailed ballots that are received by the end of Tuesday in their election results.
In August, USPS suspended cost-cutting moves such as removing post boxes and mail processing machines implemented by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, an ally of President Donald Trump. S
State attorneys general and civil rights groups said the changes would slow election mail delivery and make it difficult for voters to participate during the coronavirus pandemic.
The postal service has said it had delivered 122 million blank and completed ballots before Tuesday.
Ready to go! Mail trucks will be delivering ballots in time for counting this afternoon