Opinion ID: 4580297
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: United States Postal Service Crisis

Text: [¶37] Added to the problems occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic are the United States Postal Service’s difficulties in delivering the mail. Before the pandemic, the postal service delivered 96% of first-class mail within two to five days. In the first week of September 2020, the postal service delivered just 82% to 87% percent of first-class mail within that time frame. The postal service has acknowledged its shortcomings. In a letter to the Maine Secretary of State, a representative of the United States Postal Service stated, among other disturbing things, the following: [W]e wanted to note that . . . certain deadlines for requesting and casting mail-in ballots are incongruous with the Postal Service’s delivery standards. .... To allow enough time for ballots to be returned to election officials, domestic voters should generally mail their completed ballots at least one week before the state’s due date. 26 .... [T]he Postal Service cannot adjust its delivery standards to accommodate the requirements of state election law. [¶38] It is the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the postal service’s delivery problems that have created the voting crisis that we are presently confronting. It is easy to say that the Legislature, and only the Legislature, must deal with the problems we confront today. However, we have been asked to grant a preliminary injunction because the health crisis and postal service crisis we are confronting infringes on a voter’s constitutional right to vote by absentee ballot. Action by the Legislature dealing with the problems surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic will be too late for voters in this upcoming election.