U.S. Postal Service officials ordered to appear in court after failing to comply with federal judge’s ballot-sweep order

Representatives of the U.S. Postal Service were called before a federal judge on Wednesday after the agency’s failure to comply with a court-ordered sweep of facilities to locate some 300,000 ballots that had reportedly entered the postal system and not been scanned for delivery to election authorities.

Critics argued that changes made to Postal Service operations by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, an ally of and campaign donor to President Donald Trump who took up the post earlier this year, had slowed the mail with the possibly intended result of suppressing votes, particularly in Electoral College swing states.

See: Here’s what we know about the eight states whose Electoral College votes haven’t been called

USPS-reported data showed on-time-delivery percentages for Tuesday, Election Day, in the low 60s in central Pennsylvania, the mid-60s in Philadelphia, and under 80 in Detroit and portions of Wisconsin and North Carolina.

See: House Democrats subpoena Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s records on widespread delays in mail service

Below is a rundown of the state of play.

What happened: The Postal Service said on Tuesday that it would not abide by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan’s order to sweep processing centers for undelivered mail-in ballots, arguing that doing so would be disruptive to its Election Day operations and that it had “physical and operational limitations.”

Why it matters: Disputes about mail ballots, particularly those received after Election Day, could be the fuel for court fights over election results in some states.

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Background: Judge Sullivan’s order came after weeks of bruising court decisions for an agency that has become heavily politicized under its new leader, DeJoy. DeJoy, a logistics-company chief executive and major GOP donor, made a series of controversial policy changes after being installed as postmaster general this summer that delayed mail nationwide, fueling worry about the service’s ability to handle the unprecedented crush of mail-in ballots.

See: Postal chief DeJoy under fire over alleged campaign-finance violation

At the same time, President Donald Trump has baselessly attacked mail voting as fraudulent throughout his campaign.

Much of Sullivan’s order hinged on postal data showing roughly 300,000 mail-in ballots in several states had not received scans showing they had been delivered.

The agency has disputed the accuracy of the figure, saying it has pushed to ensure same-day local delivery of ballots by circumventing certain processing steps entirely, leaving them without the final delivery scan.

What’s next: Sullivan had given the agency until Tuesday afternoon to search 27 facilities in several battleground areas for outstanding ballots and send out those votes immediately.

The Postal Service said it had already conducted rounds of morning checks at all its processing hubs. Further, the agency said has been performing daily reviews of all 220 facilities handling election mail and planned another sweep hours before polling places closed Tuesday.

The judge accepted the agency’s response but set a Wednesday hearing “to discuss the apparent lack of compliance with the court’s order.”

Read on: Trump’s telegraphed legal challenges to votes in key states already under way as Election Day plays out