USPS warns Florida some of its mail ballots could be rejected

The U.S. Postal Service warned Florida that state deadlines for requesting mail ballots are too close to Election Day, which might lead to mail ballots not being counted in the Nov. 3 presidential election.

Florida ballots that are mailed in toward the end of October or later for the Nov. 3 presidential election might “not be returned in time to be counted,” warned a recent letter sent to the head of Florida’s elections by a top U.S. Postal Service executive.

“Under our reading of your state’s election laws, ... there is a significant risk that, at least in certain circumstances, ballots may be requested in a manner that is consistent with your election rules and returned promptly, and yet not be returned in time to be counted,’’ wrote Thomas Marshall, general counsel of the U.S. Postal Service, in the July 29 letter sent to Florida Secretary of

crime in the city of Opalocka,” the mayor said.

In 2019, Opa-locka had one of the highest crime rates of any city in South Florida. According to records gathered by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the city of only 16,000 people had 11 homicides. Only the cities of Miami and Miami Gardens and unincorporated Miami-Dade had more murders, though those areas have much larger populations and much lower crime rates when adjusted to population.

And the city has been so unstable financially that its purse strings have been controlled by a state-appointed oversight board since former Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of financial emergency in 2016. The city of 16,000 mostly African-American residents in central Miami-Dade County has been so financially strapped the past decade that many of its streets are almost impassable and littered with potholes and the city has even had trouble keeping sewage from flooding its streets.

At the end of May, Pate released a blistering 36page review conducted by Miami-Dade Police Capt. George Perera. The captain determined that Opalocka police were not properly trained or evaluated, that department policies hadn’t been updated in six years and don’t meet basic standards and that evidence was stored in individual lockers that lacked basic security measures.

Perera wrote that though the department “may seem to point to a police organization that is beyond repair,” hope remained because staff realized change was needed.

On Friday, Pate said under Dobson’s command, change didn’t come fast enough.

WALTER MICHOT Miami Herald, file 2016 James Dobson, who was fired Friday from his post as Opa-locka’s police chief, oversaw a department whose officers were not properly trained or evaluated, a report said.