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The USPS confirmed on Saturday morning that six completed and 42 blank ballots were found after investigators sent to Miami on Friday afternoon. | Spencer Platt / Getty Images
TALLAHASSEE – State and federal authorities are investigating video posted by Florida Minority Leader Kionne McGhee showing a stack of mail “sitting for over a week” at a Miami post office containing a handful of ballots ballots filled.
McGhee tweeted the video around 12:30 pm Friday afternoon indicating that it came from a “source” that he did not identify. he tweeted a separate video about four hours later, showing what he said was Postal Service investigators at the scene.
“I call on the Postal Service to correct this and I promise the citizens of Miami-Dade that these ballots will be delivered on time,” McGhee said in a statement. “I call on Laurel Lee, Secretary of State for Florida, and Governor Ron DeSantis to use their power and influence to ensure that every valid vote in Florida is counted.
The USPS confirmed on Saturday morning that six completed and 42 blank ballots were found after investigators were dispatched to Miami on Friday afternoon.
“Special agents in the Office of Inspector General confirmed the presence of the delayed mail and subsequently located approximately 48 pieces of election mail,” Special Agent in Charge Scott Pierce said in a statement. “The US Postal Service immediately arranged for the delivery of election mail.”
He said South Florida District Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan had also been briefed.
Images of the post office in Miami, an extremely Democratic area of the state where former Vice President Joe Biden must win by large numbers if he hopes to beat President Donald Trump in Florida, was released within days ahead of Election Day as Democrats maintain a massive postal vote. State party leaders and the Biden campaign have made a significant effort to persuade Democrats to vote by mail due to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump, by contrast, called mail-in voting susceptible to fraud and urged Republicans to vote in person.
As of Friday morning, Democrats held an advantage of more than 640,000 mail-in ballots. The Democrats’ overall advantage is 113,078, with Republicans dominating the advance voting period in person.
At a status conference on Saturday morning to discuss postal service-related election lawsuits, Justice Department attorney Joseph Borson told U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan that postal inspectors and staff from the Post Inspector General’s office visited the Miami facility on Friday and found ballots in the middle of a pile. some mail. An investigation is underway, he said, and the ballots are being delivered.
“The Postal Service absolutely worked quickly for election mail,” Borson said during the hearing.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle said she is also calling for an audit of all mail-in ballots in the county to ensure there are no ballots postal voting at other Miami-Dade County postal facilities.
“I have requested that all postal distribution centers be audited and that any ballots that may remain in those centers be immediately transported to the Election Department,” she told the Miami Herald. “I have offered all the resources of the State Attorney’s Election Task Force to Election Supervisor Cristina White and the South Florida Special Agent in charge of the United States Postal Inspector’s Office. , Antonio Gomez.
Miami-Dade County Election Supervisor Christina White told POLITICO on Friday that she was aware of the footage, which she “immediately reported … to our contact at USPS.”
A record spate of mail-in votes has put the USPS in the political spotlight.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a donor and political supporter of Trump, had adopted so-called cost-cutting measures Democrats are charging to slow down the postal service and stifle mail voting.
On Tuesday, Sullivan, the federal judge overseeing a handful of postal service-related election lawsuits, ordered the USPS to overturn mail collection limitations imposed by DeJoy.
“USPS personnel are responsible for making late and additional trips to the maximum extent necessary to increase on-time mail deliveries, especially for election mail,” Sullivan wrote in his order. “To be clear, late and extra travel would need to be done to the same or to a greater extent as before July 2020 as this would increase on-time mail deliveries.
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