SOS Aguilar Opposes USPS Transferring Reno Mail-Processing To Sacramento

After this weekend’s blizzard which shut down I-80 at the California-Nevada border, Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar has finally issued a statement condemning USPS’s planned transfer of mail sorting operations from Reno to Sacramento and asks for the USPS to “come to their senses.”

“I can’t fathom how I would explain to my constituents that their mail …was trapped in the snow in the mountains due to a rushed process and lack of foresight.”

The Globe was the first to raise the alarm on X (formerly Twitter) after the Washoe County Commission voted unanimously against the USPS proposal.

Rep @MarkAmodeiNV2 expected to release statement today against closure of Reno USPS facility.

All mail would be processed in Sacramento.

Including election ballots.

Yesterday, Washoe County commissioners unanimously passed letter of opposition. https://t.co/NBT0hCJYlV

— Nevada Globe (@NevadaGlobe) February 28, 2024

After the unanimous vote against USPS, Washoe County Commissioner Mike Clark told The Globe, “The USPS tried this years ago and received the public’s backlash and backed down. This second attempt was announced with not much time for the public to respond. The County Commission took the necessary steps of unanimously voting against this ill-timed and opaque decision made without the necessary time for public notice, comment, or supportive documentation to defend their decision.”

After our report, Republican Congressman Amodei was joined by Democratic Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen to voice their concerns in a letter sent to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

We have a brilliant idea, Louis…

Let’s move the @USPS Reno mail processing facility to…..Sacramento!

In the winter months, the trucks may jackknife, spin-out in a blizzard, or be stranded during a road closure, but we will be saving $3 mill! https://t.co/brDogIjMvY

— Nevada Globe (@NevadaGlobe) March 2, 2024

In their letter, the bipartisan delegation highlighted “the potential impact of such changes to mail service reliability, the local economy, and jobs in the community” and voice their frustration related to the lack of transparency related to the USPS decision.

They, like Aguilar, emphasized their serious concerns related to mail ballots:

Diverting their mail outside of the state and back again raises serious concerns. In this same vein, sending over one hundred thousand mail- in-ballots from Nevada to California before they are sent back to Northern Nevada is extremely concerning to election officials in the state.

Washoe County Interim Registrar Cari-Ann Burgess is one such election official who spoke out against the transfer of Reno’s mail processing center to Sacramento.

In an interview last week with the Reno Gazette Journal (RGJ), Burgess warned, “It’s going to be terrible for our elections. To be honest with you, I wouldn’t even put it in the mail,” she said of the upcoming November election ballot. “I would drop it off at one of our vote centers.”