What is Franked Mail and how could it affect an election?
Oct 12, 2024, 4:17 PM
FILE - Chester County, Pa., election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots at West Chester University in West Chester, Pa., Nov. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
(AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
SALT LAKE CITY — Franked Mail, also known as Congressional Mail, is official mail that’s sent without postage prepayment and is funded by taxpayer dollars.
KSL at Night hosts Greg Skordas and Adam Gardiner talk about what franked mail looks like for federal vs. state and local politicians.
Gardiner breaks it down what could count as a Franked mailer, saying it could be mail announcing a town hall meeting or even a Congressional Representatives directing how to access resources.
He says something like this can be a very good way to get information out through the mail.
Some Rules
To avoid misuse of taxpayer funds there are a lot of rules at the federal level for these mailers. In fact, there’s a whole franking committee that has to approve.
For starters, a representative can’t advocate for themselves too much.
There are also very strict timelines for when mailers can be sent, especially during an election year. By September nothing is supposed to sent out due to a stipulation that Franked Mail can’t be sent out 60 days before a general election.
On the local level things are different
State level Representatives have to buy their own stationary and cover the cost of mailing them out themselves. While the cost is higher it means the rules to follow are fewer.
There is no laws against sending whatever to whomever you want, even on election materials or around election time.
Recent events
Recently a taxpayer-funded mailer was sent out to Salt Lake County residents with a picture and name of the elected official large and upfront. The problem, according to Skordas and Gardiner, is that the officeholder who sent out the mailer is also currently a candidate. Plus, these were sent out only a few weeks before the election.
While this isn’t illegal, Skordas and Gardiner debate how this could be unethical.
“I think it’s untoward, unethical but it’s fine because we haven’t defined that it’s not. Like you can say, you know, the speed limit is 50 and you go 55 your speeding but if you say we don’t have rules to county officials sending documents out and they do it and it smells awful, we need to do something about it,” said Skordas.
