When the post office dropped the ball, two candidates lost their elections.
John Goldhardt, who was defeated in his mayoral race Nov. 2 by 37 votes, and Holly Carson, a city councilwoman who was unseated by 44 votes, say the results might've been different if the U.S. Postal Service had done its job.Part of Goldhardt's campaign literature wasn't delivered to voters until the day after the election. Carson's didn't show up in mailboxes until Election Eve.
Both posted the material several days before.
Goldhardt noted the delivery delay occurred in the only district he lost. Carson said her material would've been more effective if voters had received it the weekend before the election.
"We're trying to figure out what happened," said Beverly Burge, Salt Lake Post Office spokeswoman. "We just feel sick, just feel really terrible about it."
Goldhardt said that three days before the election - and three days after he mailed his literature - he went to the Postal Service main facility on Redwood Road to ask what had happened.
A supervisor found the material "sitting there in a bin," said Goldhardt. "He seemed really flustered and embarrassed."
Goldhardt said he wasn't able to light a fire under postal workers until he complained to the postal supervisor in South Salt Lake, who personally drove to the Redwood Road facility to pick up the fliers and bring them to South Salt Lake.
Carson, who said she was assured her campaign literature would be received citywide by Friday, said she had to complain face-to-face to postal supervisors before her mailing was finally distributed.
"I had to go down there and raise hell," she said. "It should've been out days before."
Goldhardt said the issue goes beyond politics: "If it can happen to me, it can happen to others."
He said he has gotten the run-around from postal officials, though he has enlisted the help of Rep. Karen Shepherd and he might call for a formal investigation by the postal service.
Burge said the problems were a fluke and that the vast majority of candidates got good service on their mailings in municipal campaigns around the state.
"To even have two folks and not be timely with them, that's two people too many and we know that," she said.
Burge added that because part of Goldhardt's material wasn't received by voters until after the election, he is entitled to a partial refund of the $1,000 he spent on the mailing.