A number of Baltimore voters have received mail-in ballots that were requested but not delivered prior to the 2020 election. A Baltimore United States Postal Service facility later announced that they had discovered a tray of undelivered mail from 2020, which was then sent out. 26 blank mail-in-ballots were among the undelivered items, USPS confirmed.
The undelivered ballots affected a block of homes in Southeast Baltimore.
The Postal Service recently discovered a tray of undelivered mail in a Baltimore facility containing 26 blank ballots from 2020. “I received my 2020 General Election ballot on August 6, 2022,” Baltimore resident Nick Frisone told WMAR-2 News after receiving his ballot. Frisone’s neighbors reported similar issues, he added.
Frisone was aware that his ballot had gone missing prior to the election. On September 29, 2020, an Informed Delivery email told him that his ballot would be delivered that day. “And then it just never came, so then I had to call the Board of Elections and then I had to go in-person to get a replacement,” Frisone said.
USPS spokesman Tom Oullette confirmed that multiple mail-in ballots were not delivered in 2020. “Regarding ballots seen in photographs from a customer’s email, the Postal Service discovered a tray of undelivered mail in a Baltimore facility on Friday, Aug. 5,” Oullette told WMAR-2. “The tray’s mail was from year 2020 and contained what appeared to be 26 blank ballots mailed from the Baltimore City Board of Election to addresses with a Baltimore ZIP Code.”
According to Oullette, those mail pieces were delivered on Saturday, August 6.
“We deeply regret the late delivery of these mailpieces. The Postal Service takes these issues very seriously and is working to help avoid issues like this by going over our processes and procedures with all employees ahead of the general elections,” the USPS spokesman added. “The U.S. Postal Service is fully committed to the secure, timely delivery of the nation’s Election Mail. We are in close communication with the Baltimore City Election Board and look forward to a successful election in November.”
Baltimore City Election Director Armstead Jones expressed frustration with the postal service after being informed of the issue. “It would’ve been nice if they could’ve contacted us, so the voters wouldn’t have been confused,” Jones said.
Jones worked as a part-time postal worker in college and said he understands that mail can go missing. “Individual pieces can be lost, having a tray lost is a little different story. It has to be sitting somewhere around somebody and somebody needs to look and see what it is,” Jones added.
The Maryland State Board of Electors meets with USPS representatives on a monthly basis, and Jones said this issue will be discussed then.
Nick Frisone told WMAR-2 that the incident soured him on the idea of mail-in voting. “It’s supposed to be easy to vote this way, but when the post office misplaces them, we can’t,” Frisone said.
“Do you think you’ll ever go back to mail-in voting?” WMAR-2 reporter Mallory Sofastaii asked. “Probably not. I mean, if there’s another pandemic, I’ll get a hazmat suit and just go in-person,” Frisone responded.
