Officials from the city’s Board of Elections will appear at a hearing in Albany on Tuesday as state legislators seek answers over the mail-in ballot debacle for the June 23 primary election.

Myrie said he’s concerned about the Postal Service refusing to take part in the hearing, since it’s processing and post-marking of ballots is integral to votes being counted. The Postal Service was still in possession and processing 33,000 ballots on June 22 — the day before the primary.

He noted that the failure to testify comes as US Postmaster General Louis Dejoy announced an overhaul of the mail delivery service’s leadership less than three months before the general election. Myrie and other Democrats worry that DeJoy, a donor and pal of President Trump, could undermine the use of mail-in ballots.

Dejoy denied he’s trying to undermine the election. “Despite any assertions to the contrary, we are not slowing down Election Mail or any other mail. Instead, we continue to employ a robust and proven process to ensure proper handling of all Election Mail,” he said on Friday.

A federal judge last week ordered election officials to count thousands of mail-in ballots in the city and throughout the state that were declared invalid for not having a post-mark or arriving at offices shortly after the June 23 primary.

Manhattan Judge Analisa Torres said voters were disenfranchised and denied their constitutional rights after being encouraged by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to vote by absentee ballot as a public health measure during the coronavirus pandemic.

The counting of additional ballots is not expected to affect the outcome of any election results certified last week by the city Board of Elections, officials said.

Assembly Education Committee chairman Charles Lavine (D-Nassau) said, “We’re here to learn. We’re here to learn from our successes and mistakes and we will.”

Share this article:

Source: Read Full Article