Thousands of ballots continued to arrive at Postal Service branches this week, although in many states they are too late to be counted even if postmarked by Election Day, according to court documents.
The data, compiled in connection with a lawsuit to monitor mail voting, shows that the number of ballots arriving is, in any case, too small to influence the outcome of the election in even those states with the closest margin between Democrat Joe Biden and President Donald Trump.
It is unclear from the documents how many of the ballots may have been postmarked by Election Day or how many were merely sent too late by voters. Leading up to the elections, Democrats had expressed concern over mail delays as part of what they said was an intentional undermining by Trump, knowing it was much more likely to be Democrats voting by mail, according to Politico.
The Postal Service told the court that the numbers in the document might be less than what actually exists, because not all mailed ballots are marked with codes that identify them.
The government agency has been providing daily updates to U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, who ordered the Postal Service to conduct searches of its facilities twice a day to find and expedite ballots to election officials.
Despite this, the data shows that thousands of votes will not be counted because they will have arrived past the deadline.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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