Systemic issues at the new U.S. Postal Service center in Palmetto, Georgia have left customers frustrated, with some waiting for weeks for their mail to be processed.
The USPS center, which opened Feb. 24, has experienced problems from the start, from lost mail to packages that get rerouted right before arriving to their destination. Only 36% of its inbound mail is delivered on time.
But the problem extends far beyond receiving packages on time. The delays have gotten so bad that officials are now worried they could impact people’s ability to vote by mail-in absentee ballots during Georgia’s elections this year.
Absentee ballots have taken on a greater role since the 2020 election, when many voters opted to cast their ballot by mail during the height of the pandemic. The practice continued in 2022 – over 6% of all Georgians who voted in the 2022 general election did so using absentee ballots.
