Questions are mounting over whether some Benton County voters’ primary election ballots were affected after postal workers alleged some Corvallis mail routes were told to prioritize package deliveries over collecting outgoing mail on Election Day.
The information was first reported by the Corvallis Gazette-Times, which spoke with two postal workers who said letter carriers were directed by management on May 19 — the day of Oregon’s primary election — to focus on package deliveries.
According to the Corvallis Gazette-Times, David Bauer, president of the Corvallis branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers, filed a grievance with the local postmaster after employees were instructed to switch to “package delivery only” on Election Day.
Bauer told the newspaper the directive affected 11 employees and changed how carriers completed their routes.
Normally, carriers follow assigned routes where they deliver mail and collect outgoing mail from homes along the way.
But Bauer said the order meant carriers focused only on addresses receiving packages. That meant outgoing mail — including possible ballots — may not have been collected from some homes.
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