Postal Service delivers 40,000 more ballots after court-ordered sweep

Approximately 40,000 mail-in ballots were delivered by the United States Postal Service on Thursday as it continued court-ordered sweeps of postal centers across the country, Reuters reports.

The Postal Service reported early Friday that it found 1,076 ballots at its Philadelphia Processing and Distribution Center, about 300 at a Pittsburgh processing center and more at other centers across the state.

Ballots in Pennsylvania must be postmarked by Election Day but can be received by Friday evening and still count. It is one of more than a dozen states with deadlines to receive ballots stretching into next week.

Ballots have also been delivered in North Carolina, where about 500 were found during sweeps, Reuters reported.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan on Thursday ordered twice-daily sweeps to be conducted during the morning and afternoon at Postal Service facilities in states where the deadline to receive ballots has been extended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

About 150,000 ballots were delivered Wednesday following sweeps, according to a lawyer for nonprofit organization Vote Forward.

“The vast majority were destined for postmark states and would be delivered on-time under state election law,” the Postal Service said, according to Reuters.

Some states including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina are still counting ballots as the results of the 2020 presidential election remain pending.

The Postal Service previously failed to meet the deadline of court-ordered sweeps that were supposed to be completed by 3 p.m. on Election Day.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has pulled ahead of President Trump in Pennsylvania and Georgia, and has increased his lead in Nevada, while maintaining a slight lead over Trump in Arizona, as votes continue to be counted.