The Latest: Search of Princeton post office finds no backlog of vote-by-mail ballots

PRINCETON, Fla. – A federal hearing was held over Zoom on Tuesday with U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to discuss backlogged mail at U.S. Post Office buildings.

The U.S. Post Office facility provided evidence that there is no backlog and that all of the ballots found at the facility in Miami-Dade County’s Princeton area were returned to the elections headquarters in Doral.

A notice stated that postal managers had completed searching all 180,000 pieces of delayed mail at the Princeton post office and no additional ballots were located Monday. The 62 ballots that were discovered over the past weekend were all immediately delivered to the Broward Office of Elections, according to a status update.

House Democratic Leader Kionne McGhee tweeted a video showing the backlog. It prompted an investigation that now involves the USPS Office of the Inspector General and the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office.

Election officials said on Monday that all 67 postal facilities within Miami-Dade County will receive the same sweeps and that all is in order so far. Vote-by-mail ballots have to be delivered to the Elections Department by 7 p.m.

Sullivan ordered the U.S. Postal Service to rush the delivery of vote-by-mail ballots and to “ensure that no ballots have been held up.”

Judge Sullivan's order (U.S. federal court)
USPS statement (USPS)

About the Authors:

Saira Anwer joined the Local 10 News team in July 2018. Saira is two-time Emmy-nominated reporter and comes to South Florida from Madison, Wisconsin, where she was working as a reporter and anchor.

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.