A ballot drop box stands outside a government office building in Henrico County. (Graham Moomaw/Virginia Mercury)
Commissioner of Elections Susan Beals on Wednesday expressed concerns with the operational performance of the U.S. Postal Service ahead of the 2024 presidential election in Virginia, warning that mail-in ballots may not be processed in time to be counted.
“Election officials depend on the U.S. mail service to deliver ballots to voters and to return ballots to election officials,” Beals told members of the Virginia House of Delegates Privileges and Elections Committee at a meeting in Richmond. “What I am hoping to change is the expectation of voters, that if I put my ballot in the mail five days before election day that it is going to get there. You need to plan further out than that.”
Beals, who was appointed as Virginia’s commissioner of election by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in March 2022, responded to a question by Del. Phillip Scott, R-Fredericksburg, who had asked what she considered “the biggest threat” to the upcoming election.