State and election officials issue warning over potential voting disruptions

• The latest warning from the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors comes as a number of states are set to begin early voting this month.

The big picture: A host of problems with the mail delivery system have been evident over the past year, the two groups wrote in a letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Wednesday.

• These include receiving mailed ballots that had been postmarked on time arrive after the deadline to be counted and instances in which ballots that were correctly addressed were returned to voters as undeliverable.
• "We have not seen improvement or concerted efforts to remediate our concerns," despite repeated outreach efforts to USPS, the groups wrote.

What they're saying: "We implore you to take immediate and tangible corrective action ... failure to do so will risk limiting voter participation and trust in the election process," they said.

• However, Adrienne Marshall, the Postal Service's director of election mail and government services, said in a statement Wednesday that the USPS was "ready to deliver."
• "We were successful in 2020 delivering a historic volume of mail in ballots ... and will do so again in November 2024," Marshall added.

State of play: While mail-in voting is likely to be less prevalent this year than it was in 2020, both parties have embraced encouraging voters to cast their ballots early via mail.

• Former President Trump spent years disparaging early voting as "corrupt," earlier this year he and several GOP groups embraced mail-in voting.
• Democrats, on the other hand, welcomed vote-by-mail efforts in 2020 and now enjoy a large mail-in voting advantage in swing states.

Go deeper: First votes of 2024 election are about to be cast

Editor's note: This story was updated with a statement from the USPS.