No proof US Postal Service ‘recently changed the delivery method’ of ballots to hide fraud

Close to Election Day, the Post office handles mailed tallies in different ways than various other mail, yet this treatment isn’t brand-new. Election professionals and a Post office agent claimed that the firm has actually made comparable changes to make certain timely distribution of election mail in previous political elections including in 2020 and 2022.

Michael Alvarez, political and computational social scientific research at Caltech and co-director of the Caltech/MIT Voting Modern technology Project, claimed he has just recently made it possible for webinar discussions with numerous political election officials who’ve discussed mail ballots and the Postal Service.

If ballots bypass automated handling, the Postal Solution may not create digital photos of the tally envelopes as it usually would as part of its notified distribution service, according to the agency’s web site. Informed distribution is an opt-in Postal Solution program that sends out image previews of incoming Postal Service mail.

Bernegger shared his blog post to the “Political Election Stability” Community that Musk’s Political Action Board developed on X. Given that it was developed Oct. 21, the group has actually collected over 60,000 participants, many of whom flow incorrect political election stories, consisting of multipleclaimswe have actually fact-checked.

As it has in past election years, the Postal Service on Oct. 21 released what it refers to as “phenomenal steps” that Johnson said are “created to increase the distribution of ballots sent by mail near Election Day.”

“The Postal Service utilizes a range of robust steps, processes, and procedures to make certain the secure, protected, and prompt distribution of our country’s Election Mail, consisting of tallies,” Donahue stated. “The capture of mail item photos are not one of those basic measures, procedures, or procedures.”

“The USA Postal Service recently altered the shipment approach of absentee mail-in ballots!” Peter Bernegger created in an Oct. 27 blog post. “They are concealing the proof of absentee mail-in tally scams – by not allowing the proof to be developed to begin with.”

Slack interview with Michael Alvarez, Flintridge Foundation teacher of political and computational social science at Caltech, and codirector of the Caltech/MIT Ballot Modern Technology Job, Nov. 1, 2024

If tallies bypass automated handling, the Post office may not create electronic pictures of the tally envelopes as it normally would as part of its informed distribution service, according to the company’s web site. Educated shipment is an opt-in Post office program that sends out image previews of inbound Postal Service mail. Those pictures, however, “are just offered letter-sized mailpieces that are processed with USPS’s computerized tools,” the Post office web site says.

Bernegger’s blog post offered no evidence to support his insurance claim. He included a photo of a letter from the Post office that stated the company discovered no papers that would certainly please his Freedom of Details Act documents request for “all the digital images of all absentee mail-in tallies” sent by community and area clerks in Wisconsin from Sept. 17 to Oct. 14. He additionally attributed the claimed modifications to Amber McReynolds, the united state Post office’s Board of Governors’ vice chair and a President Joe Biden appointee.

We searched making use of Google and the Nexis information archive, and located no reliable reports or details sustaining the case that McReynolds supported for mail ballots distribution modifications in 2024. We additionally found no credible reports that the Postal Service had made modifications to its procedures for mail tallies.

Under the special political election year procedure, nonetheless, sent by mail ballots resolved to a close-by or regional election office “will bypass the processing procedure and will certainly rather be postmarked at the regional device and provided to the political election workplace,” Johnson stated. “This is consistent with our technique in previous general political elections.”

Brenden Donahue, U.S. assistant postal inspector accountable at the United States Postal Evaluation Solution, told PolitiFact it does not endanger election safety when electronic images of ballot envelopes aren’t developed.

The agency’s 2020 press release made use of the very same “phenomenal actions” language. We additionally discovered an extra detailed October 2020 memorandum that described similar arrangements, consisting of one accrediting local article offices to postmark and supply ballots to boards of political elections “as opposed to the tallies being positioned right into the automation circulation.” A September 2022 memorandum stated the agency would certainly employ the very same “extraordinary procedures” as it had in 2020.

“Under typical operations, any kind of piece of mail, consisting of an absentee tally, is taken care of and postmarked at the processing facility closest to its coming from article office and, depending on just how much it is going, will certainly be managed once more at one or more processing centers better to its (location) blog post office,” Johnson stated.

Bernegger, based in Wisconsin, has actually rejected the 2020 election’s outcomes. Given that 2020, he has actually filed many claims against neighborhood election offices, charging them of fraudulence while likewise advertising his litigation and false political election fraud claims online, The Guardian reported. The Wisconsin Elections Payment in 2022 fined Bernegger even more than $2,400 for making unimportant political election complaints.

In 2024, the Postal Service’s “extraordinary measures” for political election mail started previously, however they “are the same or primarily the exact same” as the measures in 2020 and 2022, claimed Amy Cohen, who works very closely with state political election officials across the country as executive supervisor of the National Organization of State Political Election Supervisors.

U.S. Postal Service speaker Martha Johnson informed PolitiFact that the Post Office has not “just recently transformed the delivery method of absentee ballots” as the blog posts claim. The Post office has actually used the exact same procedures for previous general elections, she stated.

Barbara Smith Detector, executive director of the National Vote at Home Institute, stated the unique treatments for ballots are “popular” and “on a regular basis executed” among Postal Service offices and workers throughout the country.

Bernegger, based in Wisconsin, has actually denied the 2020 election’s results. Considering that 2020, he has submitted many claims versus neighborhood election offices, charging them of fraud while likewise advertising his lawsuits and false political election fraud asserts online, The Guardian reported. The Wisconsin Elections Payment in 2022 fined Bernegger more than $2,400 for making pointless political election problems.

In a nearly 400-word blog post, Bernegger alleged that the Postal Service incorrectly guided blog post offices “to NOT send absentee mail-in tallies to main kind. But rather take them to the election clerks.” He said that meant “no electronic tally images are being produced,” which he suggested amounted to intentionally concealing fraudulence.

Close to Election Day, the united state Postal Service deals with sent by mail tallies in different ways than various other mail, but this treatment isn’t brand-new for the 2024 political election. Political election specialists and a Post office speaker said that the company made similar process adjustments in previous political elections, including in 2020 and 2022.

In February, Wisconsin prosecutors implicated Bernegger of falsifying a subpoena for an election-related case, and he was charged with “imitating legal procedure,” a felony. The criminal case versus him proceeds.

The Wisconsin man who made this insurance claim has embraced unsubstantiated allegations of fraudulence since 2020, submitting numerous claims against neighborhood election offices. In 2022, the Wisconsin Elections Compensation fined him for making unimportant election complaints.