USPS investigating late absentee ballots

Hundreds showed up weeks late for Aug. 11 primary in Enfield

HARTFORD — The U.S. Postal Service is investigating why 237 absentee ballots for the Aug. 11 primary showed up more than two weeks late at Enfield Town Hall, and a second investigation by the state is expected to start soon, officials said Friday.

State officials are baffled by the development as ballots sometimes are delayed in the mail for individuals, but not in large numbers simultaneously.

“The whole thing is a little strange,” said Gabe Rosenberg, a spokes man for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill. “There’s always ballots that arrive late. That’s a fact of life. … But for 200 ballots to show up at the same time, three weeks late, something has gone on that’s

not explained in the normal way. You’d have to believe that there were 237 voters in Enfield, who three weeks after the election, found their ballots all at the same time and decided to put them in the postal service, even though the election results had been reported. I don’t have an explanation for it.”

Since Merrill’s office lacks the power to investigate, the case will be referred to the State Elections Enforcement Commission, which has the power to levy fines. The elections agency is aware of the issue as a priority, but the commission had not yet received the formal referral late Friday afternoon, a spokesman said.

The ballots showed up in batchesmorethantwoweeks after the Aug. 11 primary and were postmarked at the Enfield post office before being delivered on the same day. An initial batch of 65 ballots were suddenly delivered to Enfield’s town hall two weeks after the election, and then 49arrived twodays later, officials said.

“They were postmarked by a stamp by a person at the post office — not by a machine that they run through’” Rosenberg said. “This is obviously a stamp.”

There were no legislative primaries in Enfieldthis year, but the late-arriving ballots may have been a factor in the GOP primary for the 2nd Congressional District that includes Enfield. In that contest, U.S. Army combat veteran Justin Anderson of East Haddam defeated convention-endorsed candidate Thomas Gilmer of Madisonby78votes, according to results onthesecretary of the state’s website.

Nationwide, voters have complained about slowdowns in the mail, and concerns have been raised in Congress about the potential impact on the Nov. 3 presidential election between President DonaldTrumpand Democrat Joe Biden.

In response to the concerns, the U.S. Postal Service recently sent postcards to customers across the country, including Connecticut. The postcard included five recommendations for customers who will be voting by mail this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“Request your mail-in ballot, often called ’absentee ballot,’ at least 15 days before Election Day,” the postcard said. “Once received, follow the instructions. ... We recommend you mail your ballot at least seven days before Election Day.”

Amy Gibbs, the chief spokeswoman for the postal service for Connecticut, said theagencyalsoisunabletosay whytheballotsweremissing.

“Management has been researching this issue but has not been able to determine a root cause,” she said. “Wecontinuetoworkclosely with the Connecticut Secretary of the State and all state Boards of Election and look forward to a successful general election.”

Mary Ann Turner, the Enfield Republican chairman who is running for the state legislature, said it was unusual that the mail was hand-stamped in Enfield.

“All the mail from Enfield goes to Hartford through the bigsortermachines,” shesaid. “They cancel the stamp and then they send them back to Enfield pre-sorted. ... They were coming in in big piles. It wasn’t one or two. It was 65.”

In Connecticut, morethan 2 million registered voters in all political parties are being sent absentee ballot applications in the mail under a program sponsored by Merrill and paid for by the federal government. Many voters have already received the applications. Due to the pandemic, all voters in Connecticut can vote by absentee ballot in November.

Asof Friday, nearly 60,000 applications had already been returned to town halls in more than 75% of Connecticut’s municipalities, officials said. The actual ballots cannot be mailed to voters until October, under state law.

Merrill and other officials have advised voters to drop their ballots off at the special boxes outside town halls, rather than sending them through the U.S. mail.