USPS collection boxes at 3 Henrico post offices broken into

[Yonnie3]

https://www.henricocitizen.com/articles/usps-collection-boxes-at-3-henrico-post-offices-broken-into/

United States Post Service officials are investigating after outdoor mail collection boxes at six post offices in the Richmond region – including three in Henrico and one near the Henrico-Richmond border – were broken into sometime between Saturday afternoon and this morning.

The blue metal collection boxes at the Glen Allen (Innsbrook), Lakeside and Regency locations in Henrico and the Westhampton location near Willow Lawn, just across the county line in Richmond, were tampered with and pried open, according to United States Postal Inspector Michael Romano. Officials don’t know how much mail might have been taken from the various locations.

Postal Service officials began receiving calls from the post office employees this morning at about 7 a.m., Romano said.

At the Innsbrook site, officials quickly placed crime tape around the boxes and USPS plastic boxes over the deposit areas while awaiting repairs that Romano said should be completed today.

< snip >

More information at link

[Thekaspervote]

1. Please please..do not trust your ballot to the mail!! PLEASE

[pandr32]

2. People need to make sure they deposit ballots at the PO

...or at a ballot drop off point.
If it were me, though, I would wait in line inside the PO and hand it to a clerk and wait to see it stamped.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

3. This pisses me off big time.

We mailed ours inside the post office. I put it in the slot. I mailed ours on September 29th. I did see that the other mail that I've put in was received but so far according to the registrar they haven't received the ballots. I was told it could take up to 9 days to go through the mail and additional 3 days for processing. I got this directly from the registrar's office.

by the way, I used to work near the post office in Glen Allen where some boxes were broken into. I'm almost positive that's Spanbergers' district

[Yonnie3]

7. I dropped mine in the registrar's outside dropbox

I dropped it on a Sunday evening. The well lit box is under video surveillance. It took three or four days before it showed up on my voter data. This was in Albemarle County. It was much quicker for a friend who dropped it in the outside box at the Charlottesville Registrar.

Have you tried using the track my ballot app linked at https://www.elections.virginia.gov/vote-absentee-by-mail/index.html ?

I am assuming you are in Virginia.

[underpants]

4. Wow.

This should be interesting to follow.

[Ferrets are Cool]

5. I hope they took fingerprints

repugs are usually too stupid steal something intelligently.

[CousinIT]

6. WTF did anyone expect to happen after DeJoy made this LEGAL?

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/14/postal-service-police-union-sues-dejoy-414537

The Postal Service last month abruptly ordered its police officers to stop investigating mail theft that occurs away from post office property, the Postal Police Officers Association alleged Monday, suing Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to block a change they say could erode the safety of mail carriers and delivery.

"The Postal Service’s sudden change is unwarranted, impermissible, and contrary to the language of the statute and also to collective bargaining promises it has made to the officers’ union," the association said in its lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Washington D.C.

Per the union, USPS implemented the change on Aug. 25, a day after DeJoy testified to Congress amid mounting concerns that policy changes he implemented were delaying mail service and could jeopardize record numbers of mail-in ballots expected in the presidential election.

Per the court filing, the USPS leader "declared that Postal Police Officers should no longer be assigned to investigate or prevent mail theft or protection of letter carriers" unless it occurred on Postal Service premises.

[58Sunliner]

10. Holy shit.

[58Sunliner]

8. I hope they catch these creeps.

[Duppers]

9. This is horrible! It's a federal crime to tamper

With U.S. mail...as is ballot tampering.

Just....


Thanks for this info, Yonnie.

[whopis01]

11. A federal crime that is no longer investigated thanks to DeJoy

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/14/postal-service-police-union-sues-dejoy-414537

[Duppers]

13. HolyShit!!! Thanks!

I missed that.

Well on our way to a corporate supported dictatorship!!

[PunkinPi]

14. Hey Duppers...

I meant to ask you how you are voting this year? We dropped our mail-in ballots last Tuesday at the Rec Center since they have early voting and the drop box there. So glad we decided to drop off instead of mailing.

[Duppers]

17. Hey, Miss Pi!

Sorry about the delay, dear.

We're going to vote early and in person to make sure our vote is counted and not lost, plus the fact that we can better avoid any line(s).

As you know we live in York Co, not JCC, so instead of having to drive all the way to Yorktown, there's a satellite voting place up at this end of the county. It's located in a shopping center across the way from Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center.

We should've already voted but I've not been feeling too well the last few weeks. NO worries tho, it's a sleep issue.

Hope you guys are well. Greetings to all.

[PunkinPi]

19. Hi Dup,

No worries about the delay and I'm sorry you weren't feeling/sleeping well. I know when I don't sleep well it throws everything out of sorts. Hope you are feeling better now.

I didn't realize you were in York Co, my mom is now in York Co as well. In fact, I know the exact satellite voting place you mean, as that's where we dropped her ballot last week. The place isn't very big, and there were 6-7 people in there when we dropped it off and it felt crowded.

We are all well, just waiting to get to the end of this whole mess, though it will take a while to clean up. Keep well, safe, and happy voting -- it was a wonderful feeling!!!

[Duppers]

18. Forgot to mention ..

You guys did THE wise thing!

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

12. Update to report 6 locations.

https://www.nbc12.com/2020/10/05/mail-stolen-six-post-office-locations-across-region/

[snip]
Police received calls this morning from several post offices for the report of postal boxes being broken into.

United States Postal Inspector Michael Romano says six locations have had mailboxes tampered with. Those locations include:

Henrico


4990 Sadler Place
2000 Starling Drive
2100 E. Parham Road (Lakeside)
Chesterfield

7510 Lady Blair Lane
1201 Sycamore Square Dr
Richmond

805 Glenburnie Road (Westhampton location)
According to the investigation, the door latch to the boxes was pried open with a tool or force.

[phylny]

15. We mailed ours maybe two weeks ago.

Both the tracking system and the local Board of Elections shows our ballots have arrived.

If I had to do it over, I'd probably do early voting.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

16. Mailed ours on 9/29/2020. Still says mailed. Hasn't moved past this in a couple of days.

I would like to see it go to "In Transit."

Got an email back from the registrar (City of Richmond) (asked "what if it is not received...then what?).

Yes, you can do a provisional ballot up to and on Election Day itself.

If you mailed it at the post office, I am virtually certain that we will receive it

In terms of timeline:

The transits shown on the ballot tracker are not door to door, but at touch points in the main processing centers with estimated delivery dates. You can check for certain receipt through your registration record accessed online at www.elections.virginia.gov. Please allow 9 days transit time through the postal system, then 3 days for us to enter receipt online.

Please let us know if you have further concerns.