Postal Election Fraud

With the elections in full swing, discrepancies have been reported in different parts of the country. This time around, a lot of emphases has been laid on postal ballots, which allow citizens to cast their votes by mail. In a major jolt to the postal ballot system, a glitch was reported after a Kentucky postal worker was charged with throwing 111 ballots in the dumpster.

The Accused

DeShawn Bojgere, 30, is a resident of Louisville, Kentucky. He is no longer employed with the USPS on account of charges of delay or destruction of a huge quantity of mail. The mail included about 111 general election absentee ballots being mailed from the Jefferson County clerk’s office to voters, as well as 69 mixed class pieces of mail, 320 second-class pieces of mail and two national election campaign flyers.

Details of the crime

Bojgere allegedly dumped mail from a specific delivery route in a Louisville construction dumpster. This incident happened between October 5 and October 15. The mail included 111 ballots, two election campaign flyers and nearly 400 items of non-election mail.

Bojgere has confessed to dumping the mail on this very delivery route. If convicted, he will face up to five years in prison and a hefty fine of $250,000.

The Actual Destination of the Ballots

The ballots were all being sent from the Jefferson County Clerk’s office to prospective voters. The ballots were blank and had not been filled out yet. After the incident came to light, the discarded mail was restored and put back into the original mail stream.

Statement from U.S Postal Inspection Service

Repeated incidents of discrepancies from the postal department have been reported. Despite this, Special Agent Scott Balfour of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service was previously quoted saying that the occurrence of incidents of this nature is exceedingly rare.

Concerns Raised

U.S. Attorney Russel Coleman emphasized the importance of the integrity and reliability of those delivering the U.S. Mail, especially in these times. He issued a strict warning saying that any conduct by postal employees that violates their duty will result in swift federal prosecution.

The Criticality of Postal Ballots in Present Times

In times of Covid, an increasing number of citizens have resorted to casting their vote via postal ballot. It is definitely a lot safer than casting votes in person. However, the integrity of the postal department has come into question time and again, courtesy of the rising number of controversies arising right before the election.

The USPS has stated that over 100 million ballots have been safely processed by the agency. They also emphasized that the incidents of discrepancy accounted for merely 0.0002% of all the ballots being sent.

Initial apprehensions that the postal mail will not arrive in time for the elections have been addressed – with the USPS deploying additional resources to ensure the election mail is delivered on time.

Claims by President Trump

Baseless claims from President Trump have also surfaced, with him stating that mail-in ballots are being tampered with by mail-workers. In the first debate, he was quoted saying that mailmen were stealing ballots and dumping them into rivers.

The USPS replied by saying that they have noted several isolated incidents of misconduct by individual postal workers. However, it dismissed the widespread or coordinated tampering of election mail. Having said this, the USPS has confirmed that the claims made by President Trump are either entirely false or heavily mischaracterized. There is definitely more evidence of mail fraud then the media will reveal.