RIGHT SPEAK: AG William Barr Says Expansive Mail-In Voting is ‘playing with fire’; (USPS) Local election boards stuck in outdated, confusing mail-in voting

Matt McClain/The Washington Post via AP

AG William Barr says expansive mail-in voting is ‘playing with fire’:

Attorney General William Barr condemned lawmakers who are pushing for expansive mail-in voting in the November election as “playing with fire” because it carries a threat of rampant fraud and could threaten the credibility of the vote.

“This is playing with fire. We’re a very closely divided country here. And people have to have confidence in the results of the election and the legitimacy of the government, and people trying to change the rules to this to this methodology which, as a matter of logic is very open to fraud and coercion, is reckless and dangerous and people are playing with fire,” Barr said in an interview on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” Wednesday.

Barr pointed to a bipartisan committee led by former President Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker in 2009 that the attorney general said concluded that mail-in voting “is fraught with the risk of fraud and coercion.” --->READ MORE HERE

Joshua A. Bickel/The Columbus Dispatch via AP

USPS fires back: Local election boards stuck in outdated, confusing mail-in voting:

The U.S. Postal Service, under Democratic fire on its readiness for mail-in voting, says there are big problems on the other end, too.

Some local election boards count ballots using outdated procedures as the country prepares for its first mass-mail vote.

The boards opted to use excess envelopes, minus bar codes, making it impossible to track the ballot applications or ballots, the U.S. Postal Service inspector general said in a new report this week.

The inspector general said that in 2018, 31 million ballots were cast by mail. Only 4 million, or 13%, used mail tracking technology.

“The Postal Service, mailers, and election boards are not able to track ballot envelopes that do not have barcodes,” the IG said. “According to Postal Service management, some election boards have chosen to continue using excess stock of ballot envelopes without barcodes and some lack the funding for integrating the use of barcodes in their mailing process.”

The gap comes despite the Postal Service repeatedly telling election boards over the years to make sure pieces can be tracked. USPS also has also been urging canvassing boards to ensure they have the correct addresses for voters to avoid huge numbers of ballots being returned unopened.