Can You Register To Vote At The Post Office In Michigan

Postal Service says voter registration, vote-by-mail service materials permitted in Houston post offices

Sep. 18, 2020 Updated: Sep. eighteen, 2020 eight:43 p.thousand.

Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia and Congressman Al Green speak to the media after their visit to the North Houston USPS Distribution and Processing Center at 4600 Aldine Bender Road to conduct congressional oversight of the U.S. Postal Service, Tuesday, September 1, 2020, in Houston. — Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia and Congressman Al Dark-green speak to the media after their visit to the North Houston USPS Distribution and Processing Center at 4600 Aldine Bough Road to deport congressional oversight of the U.S. Mail, Tuesday, September 1, 2020, in Houston.
Karen Warren, Houston Relate / Staff photographer

There's been a breakthrough in the weeks-long collision over the availability of voter registration materials in Houston post offices with just weeks to get before the election.

Word came in a letter Friday to 2 Houston Democrats from the U.Due south. Mail authorities relations official in Washington, clarifying that postmasters are now explicitly authorized to allow voter registration and vote-by-postal service applications to be on hand in postal service office lobbies as long equally there is room to stash them.

The letter of the alphabet to Representatives Al Green and Sylvia Garcia came in response to an research last calendar week highlighting reports by the League of Women Voters that volunteers had been told to come collect multilingual voter registration materials they dropped off at more than than a dozen post offices.

Volunteers from the League, a century-erstwhile nonpartisan group dedicated to voter enfranchisement, subsequently documented 51 post offices in the Houston region that rejected voter registration materials, although some employees said they would keep the cards behind the counter in example anyone asked for them.

Amongst a congressional inquiry into an alleged slowdown of post by Trump's handpicked postmaster general, Green and Garcia were especially concerned the chilling effect of the cards existence rejected earlier the Oct. v deadline in primarily Autonomous districts.

The letter from Cory D. Brown, of the USPS government relations division in Washington, D.C., acknowledged the provision many post function officials have pointed to since the controversy arose prohibiting the placement of "pamphlets or other literature" inside post offices. However, Dark-brown shared new guidance to offices noting that, "postmasters or installation heads are authorized to allow the placement of voter registration forms and absentee election request forms in the Post Office Box lobbies of retail facilities, provided there is acceptable space bachelor for such materials."

Garcia expressed gratitude to the League of Women Voters "for bringing this situation to our attention and their commitment to protecting everyone's right to vote." She said she was happy that the tradition of Texas registering to vote at the post office can proceed.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

gabrielle.banks@chron.com