Minnesota among states to get USPS ballot warning; Simon calls it 'totally unnecessary'

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota is among many states receiving warning letters from the U.S. Postal Service that mail-in ballots may be delivered too late to count in November's general election because of the states' tight deadlines. 

Secretary of State Steve Simon, Minnesota's top election official, called the letter "totally unnecessary." It's among a series of USPS moves that have Simon concerned, including operational cutbacks that could lead to mail slowdowns.

"That is deeply disturbing and unacceptable in a democracy and in the year 2020," Simon said in an interview. "That said, Minnesotans are not going to be deterred." 

The Post Office's warning letter does not account for a pending case in the Minnesota Supreme Court that could extend a key absentee ballot deadline by up to seven days. Minnesota has previously required absentee ballots to be received by local clerks on Election Day in order to count.

Ramsey County District Judge Sara Grewing ruled Aug. 3 that absentee ballots would count if they're postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days. She also agreed to waive Minnesota's witness signature requirement for registered voters who mail in absentee ballots.

President Donald Trump's campaign and Minnesota Republicans have appealed Grewing's ruling.

This week, the state Supreme Court agreed to rush the case forward, scheduling arguments for the first week in September, which is two weeks before absentee voting starts in Minnesota on Sept. 18.

"At the very least, we’re telling the courts, please whatever you’re going to decide, decide as quickly as possible so we have finality by Sept. 18," Simon said.

The number of Minnesotans voting absentee has skyrocketed in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

For the first time in state history, more people voted by mail for Tuesday's primary than voted in-person on primary day. Of the more than 825,000 votes counted, as many as two-thirds were early votes, according to data from Simon's office.

The numbers were similar in Minneapolis. Of the 130,888 votes case in Tuesday's primary, 85,217 of them -- 65 percent -- were early votes, according to city election officials. 

Trump opposes an expansion of mail-in voting, claiming that it would lead to widespread fraud. Many rural communities in Minnesota have voted entirely by mail for years and have not reported issues with fraud.

The president has threatened to block a $25 billion rescue package for the struggling Post Office over his concerns about mail-in voting.

"They want $25 billion for the Post Office because the Post Office is going to have to go to town to get these great, ridiculous ballots in," Trump said on Fox Business this week. 

Of the expansion of mail-in absentee voting in many states, he said, "We're challenging in court. So it's being challenged by at many different levels. We have many lawsuits out there. This will be the greatest fraud in history."

Simon said Minnesotans could avoid any concerns about mail slowdowns by ordering an absentee ballot early and either sending it back early or dropping it off to their county or city election office.

The swell of absentee voting in Tuesday's primary reflects a "turning point" in Minnesota, he said.

"Physical turnout in the polling place was flat or even down. But mail turnout was way, way up. And that’s really the story of this primary: people feeling comfortable voting from home," Simon said.

Minnesota's polling places -- which were relatively slow because of the flood of absentee voting -- had "remarkably few issues" despite the pandemic, Simon said. There were very few reports of confrontations over mask wearing and positive reviews about how municipal workers ensured safety of their polling places, he said.