Over 800 Mail-In Ballots Found In Texas Postal Service Sweeps

After a record number of mail-in votes, a federal judge is questioning why the postal service disobeyed his ordered to sweep processing facilities for 300,000 missing mail-in ballots nationwide on Election Day.

NBC DFW reported that on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered more sweeps in Texas, including three mail processing plants in North Texas.

Two sweeps in Dallas on Wednesday found a total of 35 mail-in ballots. 89 were found in Coppell.

Fort Worth workers located 323 ballots. Across Texas, 815 mail-in ballots were found.

This number of ballots may not seem like a lot, but small numbers can make a huge difference. Former state representative Rodney Anderson won his 2016 race by just 64 votes.

Anderson stated, "They can absolutely make a difference."

State law says that mail-in ballots must be postmarked by election day but had to be delivered to election boards by close of business on Wednesday.

Anderson said, "I think it is concerning anytime that legally-cast ballots are put in a position where they're not counted, whether that is a post office error, whether that is an elections department error."

The found ballots are reportedly in the hands of election boards after a rush delivery to ensure all were counted.

The postal service said on Wednesday, "The assumption that there are unaccounted ballots within the Postal Service network is inaccurate. These ballots were delivered in advance of the election deadlines. We employed extraordinary measures to deliver ballots directly to local boards of elections. When this occurs, by design, these ballots bypass certain processing operations and do not receive a final scan. Instead, they are expedited directly to the boards of elections. We remain in close contact with state and local boards of elections and we do not currently have any open issues. Additionally, the Postal Inspection Service has physically inspected all plants that process ballots. We will continue to accept, process and deliver ballots as they are entered into the network."

Photo: Getty Images

Source: NBC DFW