USPS hearing with Judge Sullivan is about to resume. I'll do my best to tweet along.

Earlier today the judge was not happy with USPS's responses as to why his order to sweep facilities yday was not followed. Judge is hoping to hear directly from USPS executives this afternoon.

Again, for the background on these cases, check out http://savethepostoffice.com : https://twitter.com/USPostOffice911/status/1324054634626011138?s=20

Kevin Brey (sp?) of USPS who is head of election mail processing is on the line.

Judge Sullivan says he wants to make sure that his orders are clear and realistic. He wants USPS to be able to comply. Which is why it's important to have everyone on the same page now.

One issue here by Plaintiffs is ballots with entry scans but no destination scans. Whether these are ballots that have been hand-delivered and therefore delivered but not scanned, or whether these are ballots that have been left behind is unclear.

USPS will look into it.

Bray is being questioned now. Bray is the manager of election mail for USPS.

Says over the past few weeks trucks have been authorized to make extra trips and late collections to expedite election mail.

(This is a change from DeJoy's summer initiative that slowed mail.)

On the topic of completed ballots returned by voters- Bray testifies that these ballots usually arrive to sorting facilities same day.

Bray is testifying to the distinction of different-sized ballots, which vary by state, & may be sorted in different facilities based by size.

Different states have different sized ballots. Different sized ballots require processing at different facilities. They are ideally transported to the correct facility in the same day, according to Bray.

(Note that most of this testimony so far is the nitty-gritty of mail logistics and sorting)

Bray says he knew leading up to the election that turnaround would be critically important. USPS then implemented policies to expedite ballots based on zip codes of board of elections of where that ballot was headed. This was to cut out extra sorting that mail usually goes thru.

Bray testifies that mail gets its origination scan when it goes through the primary sorting machine when it arrives at its first facility.

A destination scan happens at the receiving site after further sorting, usually the next day. Final scans happen the morning of delivery.

(Note for context- all of this testimony about scans is most likely building a foundation to get to the bottom of why some ballots got origination scans but not destination scans. Lots of in-the-weeds testimony in the meantime about USPS sorting and scanning policies)

Bray describes USPS effort to get a headstart on primary sorting of last-minute-submitted ballots this past Sunday. Many of these ballots from Sunday and Monday were put in express flow to expedite them.

USPS will provide add'l data for exact numbers.

Bray says this express mail might not have gotten a destination scan depending on how/where it arrived.

(Note: express mail is processed differently than regular mail, especially in this situation, where goal was to accelerate ballot delivery as quickly as possible)

5% of the mail is manually hand-sorted, usually if there is an issue with a machine reading it.

Bray says that all of the manually-sorted mail was searched for in the sweeps to make sure nothing was buried.

Bray says different postal facilities worked with local board of elections to figure out best way to deliver last-minute ballots. Some were delivered, while sometimes BOE folks came to pick the ballots up. This was decided at the local level.

Bray states that USPS created a ballot sweep process to guide facilities how to sweep and look for ballots.

This data is kept at the local level via ballot sweep checklists. Higher-ups request this info if/when irregularities occur.

Plaintiffs ask for USPS ballot sweep checklists from all of the relevant sorting facilities. This info shows how many ballots might've been found during a sweep.

Bray says these are manually filled out and are scanned as PDFs. They are not digital, so may take awhile to get all.

Bray is asked how often ballot sweeps happen:

He says they are constantly monitoring facilities, especially in the evenings to make sure all mail routed properly.

On Election Day, sweeps occurred throughout the day, from morning and onwards.

Bray says a full sweep takes approximately an hour, but depends on how big the processing plant is.

Reiterates that on Election Day sweeps were occurring literally all day in facilities with all hands on deck.

Bray is asked about ballots that were still in the system as of Tuesday (aka ballots that were mailed last minute): "a pretty significant number"

Bray confirms that ballots put in the mail yesterday should be delivered to their correct local board of elections by today at the latest.

Okay, we're at the crux of the issue now (finally): election mail that has origin scan but no destination scan.

Plaintiff att'y asks if those ballots could be lost.

Bray says that *could* be possible, but ballot sweeps are designed to mitigate that (&many sweeps are happening)

Some local ballots were lagging in delivery time, specifically in central PA. (i.e.: ballots mailed on Saturday should've arrived on Monday but instead arrived on Tues).

Bray concedes that this shouldn't have happened. He does not know offhand why this happened in central PA.

Bray says all plant managers were given the option to use express measures to deliver ballots last week. Express delivery was mandatory from this weekend onward, however, to ensure that all late-mailed ballots be delivered in time.

(Despite this, some delivery was still slow)

And now a 15 minute recess. Phew.

The past 2 hours were mostly in-the-weeds info about USPS handling of election mail. USPS conducted their own sweeps this wknd & on election day. Despite missing court deadline yesterday, it sounds like they were adhering to their own processes.

Another plaintiff attorney up now questioning Bray.

Asked why he was chosen to manage election mail, Bray says he is the mail flow expert at the postal service.

Bray says he was in charge of implementing "extraordinary measures" for USPS's election policies.

Plaintiff attorney asks if this was to comply with court's injunctions. Bray says yes he was told USPS was under heat from the courts.

Bray is now being asked about USPS's "extraordinary measures" policies.

Bray says these docs included high-level goals and specific instructions for plants to ensure election delivery mail.

Plaintiff attorney continuing to push Bray asking why he created these policies.

Plaintiff attorney apologizes for his cat interrupting the deposition....

Onwards...

Plaintiff attorney asking how many ballots were left behind yesterday (or the day before).

Bray does not have a specific number. Says every plant reported their final sweep #'s.

Bray says he would not be surprised if there were *some* ballots left behind. But would be *very surprised* if there were thousands.

Plaintiff attorney says he is very concerned about how many properly postmarked ballots were not delivered by election day.

Asks if Bray has any way to find out how many.

Bray says he can find info about late scanned ballots from yesterday.

Plaintiff attorney wants it by 7pm tonight. Bray says he can do noon tomorrow.

The various plaintiff attorneys are conferring now.

Q: is there a system in place where USPS employees can report info without retribution?

Bray: yes, postal employees can contact the IG and make reports. they are not required to identify themselves.

Bray is asked if he's been made aware of other issues where mail is stacked up and ballots not delivered (aside from Princeton issue).

Bray says no, he is not aware.

Bray reiterated that the missing departure scans for the 300k ballots was not bc USPS wanted people to think their ballots weren't delivered, but bc the ballots were expedited to ensure on-time delivery.

Says data could be pulled to get more info on these ballots.

Plaintiff attorney reiterates that they want to figure out how many of the 300K ballots were delivered and how many were not delivered.

Bray says he will do everything he can to get an answer. Can not guarantee how long it can take to pull the data on this.

Bray reiterates that he wants every ballot delivered.

Plaintiff attorney also reiterates that they know just bc 300K ballots were not scanned doesn't mean not delivered. They just want further confirmation that these ballots were in fact delivered, as USPS says they were.

3 hours later, Kevin Bray's testimony is wrapping up.

Judge Sullivan: "We praise the men and women of the USPS. These are hard times and these people help the system work."

USPS has a lot of data to pull. The parties are all conferring now to figure out how to best formulate the court order so that everyone is on the same page and that the order is actually feasible.

Judge Sullivan thanks Bray and says USPS should be extremely grateful to have him as the mail flow expert. And with that- hearing is done!