US Postal Service Reports Loss of Over 4,000 Mail-in Ballots in Pennsylvania and North Carolina

"1700 Ballots from Pennsylvania Are Being Delivered to Counting Centers"
Some Ballots May Be Invalid... Likely to Impact Trump's Lawsuit

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The United States Postal Service (USPS) has reportedly lost about 4,000 early mail-in ballots from Pennsylvania and North Carolina. As concerns arise that some ballots may have been invalidated, this is expected to impact the ongoing disputes and lawsuits over the fairness of mail-in voting raised by President Donald Trump.

According to Bloomberg News and other foreign media on the 6th (local time), USPS's own investigation revealed that approximately 4,250 early mail-in ballots were lost in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and North Carolina. During a resumed trial before Judge Emmet Sullivan at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., USPS submitted related documents and explained that "employees may have missed scanning the envelopes of some mail-in ballots."

CNN reported that about 1,700 mail-in ballots lost at three mail collection centers in Pennsylvania have been located and are being delivered to counting centers. According to documents submitted by USPS to the court, about 150,000 mail-in ballot envelopes nationwide arrived at the respective counting centers on November 4th, one day after Election Day.

Since some states recognize ballots arriving on Election Day as valid, there is a possibility that some ballots became invalid due to delivery delays. It is expected to be difficult to determine the number of such invalid ballots based solely on USPS data. David Partenheimer, a USPS spokesperson, stated, "The Postal Service has a legal obligation to deliver all mail collected in the system," and explained, "97% of the questioned mail-in ballots were delivered on time according to regulations."

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) lawyers who filed the lawsuit said, "Each mail-in ballot not counted due to delivery delays is a voice not reflected in our democracy," and added, "We will do our best to ensure all ballots are counted." The lawsuit was initiated by the NAACP, arguing that although USPS could deliver early mail-in ballots promptly, it was not proactive in improving related regulations and equipment, thereby ultimately obstructing the exercise of voting rights.

Early mail-in voting is generally analyzed to favor Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. In key battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Georgia, the gap between President Trump and Biden has significantly narrowed after counting mail-in ballots, resulting in a very close race. The Trump campaign has announced large-scale litigation, arguing that the lack of transparency in mail-in voting procedures warrants excluding these ballots from the count.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.