Virginia Democrats sue USPS over delayed delivery of election-related material

(CNN)The Virginia Democratic Party filed a lawsuit against the US Postal Service on Friday, alleging local branches failed to deliver and process election-related material ahead of its gubernatorial race, thereby “threatening to disenfranchise thousands of Virginia voters.”

The organization says delays in election-related mail across Albemarle County, which includes the city of Charlottesville, James City County, which is adjacent to Williamsburg, and the area of Portsmouth near Norfolk, are “particularly egregious,” according to the lawsuit.

“Thousands of ballots delivered to postal facilities by the general registrars weeks ago are still outstanding and, weeks later, have not yet even been scanned into USPS’s system. Even if these voters do eventually receive their ballots before Election Day, the slowdowns promise that they will not have sufficient time to send them back with assurance that they will arrive in time to be counted,” the lawsuit filed in US District Court says.

“And even if a ballot reaches the appropriate election official before the receipt deadline, if the official identifies any issues with it that require remediation before it may be counted, the voter will have run out of time to rectify the problem.”

Voters across Virginia had until 5 p.m, ET, Friday to request a mail-in ballot to be sent to them, according to the state’s Department of Elections.