AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — More than 800 mail ballots were found in Texas mail processing facilities and delivered to county election officials between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the U.S. Postal Service.
A U.S. district judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to search its facilities Wednesday for mail-in ballots and submit a report on how many were found and what steps were taken to deliver them by the state’s vote receipt deadline. Mailed absentee ballots in Texas must be postmarked by Nov. 3 and delivered no later than 5 p.m. on Nov. 4.
This came after a similar order Tuesday in which U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered USPS to sweep processing plants in 12 districts in the U.S., including Houston, for missing mail-in ballots by 3 p.m. Central Time. The postal service did not meet that deadline.
According to the document submitted by USPS on Wednesday, 815 ballots were found across the state between the two sweeps and transported to county election facilities. Only two ballots in the Wichita Falls area were marked for overnight transport “due to travel time.” USPS did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press on whether those two ballots had arrived on time to be counted.
In Texas, an estimated 85% of the vote has been counted. President Donald Trump leads Democratic nominee Joe Biden by more than 600,000 votes in the presidential race.
