ST. LOUIS—Four members of the St. Louis delegation to Congress are asking for an audit of a United States Postal Service facility in Hazelwood, as well as new questions about service issues.

In a letter Wednesday to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, Republicans Ann Wagner, Jason Smith, Blaine Luetkemeyer and Sam Graves asked that the agency’s Office of Inspector General audit a Sorting and Distribution Center in Hazelwood.

What You Need To Know

  • The U.S. Postal Service wants to save $3 billion annually on changes that reflect its greater reliance on streamlined regional networks — while retaining local mail delivery times of one to three days and allowing customers to track some delivery schedules with greater precision

  • Missouri Republicans representing the St. Louis area in Congress are concerned about rural delivery service as part of these changes

  • They also want an audit of a Hazelwood Sorting and Distribution Center in Hazelwood

  • The delivery issues are a heightened concern during election season, where officials here and around the country say there's been an increase in undelivered election mail, and absentee ballots that did not reach election authorities until after the August primary

 

The letter asks for an agency plan to address what the lawmakers described as “unreliable mail service in Eastern Missouri”, including issues delivering absentee ballots.

“It defies common sense that there is anyone in USPS leadership that can still honestly believe the best path forward is to further consolidate operations at these failing Sorting and Delivery Centers without any real plan to improve service.” the lawmakers wrote.

The letter asks for a plan to address the issues before the November general election and also an an analysis of how St. Louis area post offices would be impacted by a plan that could impact delivery to rural areas.

The letter came on the same day that DeJoy received another letter from state and local election officials from around the country, who said their concerns about election-related mail delivery have not been addressed.

 


According to the Associated Press, the letter from the National Association of Secretaries of State and and the National Association of State Election Directors said that over the past year, including the just-concluded primary season, mailed ballots that were postmarked on time were received by local election offices days after the deadline to be counted. They also noted that properly addressed election mail was being returned to them as undeliverable, a problem that could automatically send voters to inactive status through no fault of their own, potentially creating chaos when those voters show up to cast a ballot.

St. Louis County Democratic Election Director Eric Fey said officials here believe they've seen an increase in slower or inconsistent service and that absentee ballots that should have arrived before the August primary instead came afterward.

"I have a number of experiences in which USPS employees have worked and coordinated with us to make things work. What I fear, however, is that the overall postal system is so resource starved that it can’t function as it should," he said. 

The U.S Postal Service did not immediately return messages seeking comment Wednesday.