The New York Times explains:
As the presidential election headed into the final stretch in late summer, counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania worried that a deluge of absentee ballot requests would swamp their printing capacity. So dozens of them contracted with Midwest Direct, a Cleveland mailing company.
But when it came time to print and ship Ohio ballots early last week, it was Midwest Direct that was overwhelmed. Several Ohio counties that expected absentee ballots printed by the company to land in voters’ mailboxes are now scrambling to print them themselves or find a last-minute contingency plan less than three weeks before Election Day.
In Pennsylvania, for instance, nearly 30,000 ballots sent to voters in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, went to the wrong addresses.
The Times noted the “curious juxtaposition” of a company in such a business flying a Trump campaign flag outside its headquarters. The two brothers who own the company told the paper they have “freedom” to support whomever they want and don’t have an opinion on Trump’s false claims that voting by mail is a prescription for fraud.
There's “no evidence Midwest Direct has done anything improper with the ballots,” The Times reported. Also, “Election security experts said there was little any vendor could do to tamper with the integrity of absentee ballots.”
But even if it’s all just a big mistake by a company unexpectedly overwhelmed by its contract, you know that the snafu will make Donald Trump’s day. It doesn’t seem like the Trumper brothers are especially remorseful, either. From The Times:
Local officials said Midwest Direct offered a variety of explanations for why the promised absentee ballots were slow to be delivered, from mechanical breakdowns to a higher volume of ballot requests than anticipated. Mr. Gerken, the Lucas County [Ohio] commissioner, said there was little communication from Midwest Direct about why absentee ballots were not Toledo-bound.
Officials on Monday were unsure if absentee ballots had actually been mailed to any of them because the vendor contracted to print and send them has stopped responding to requests for an update. https://t.co/kYpz7sqMjF
— The Blade (@toledonews) October 12, 2020
