WASHINGTON – After recently discovering that some Missouri residents along the Missouri-Iowa border have been assigned Iowa mailing addresses for decades, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill is demanding answers from the Postal Service in an effort to fix the problem.
According to research conducted by McCaskill’s office, some residents of Atchison, Clark, Mercer, Putnam, Schuyler, and Scotland counties have been impacted, though the exact number of affected residents is unknown. Clark County Commissioners and residents have already alerted the United States Postal Service of the issue and requested a change in the delivery routes, which is believed to be the reason for the bizarre situation.
“The notion that Missouri residents have faced numerous hassles for decades because they have an Iowa mailing address is one of the dumbest things I’ve come across,” McCaskill said. “This needs to get fixed and I plan on doing everything I can to help.”
The issue has created inconvenience and confusion for affected Missouri residents. “This address issue causes residents, businesses, and local governments of these six counties a wide variety of unnecessary burdens,” McCaskill wrote to Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan. “Residents state that it can take several months to obtain death certificates, and local police officers believe that their Missouri drivers licenses are fraudulent because they have Iowa addresses. A Clark County clerk expressed concern that the incorrect addresses have negatively impacted the integrity of Missouri’s voting system because Iowa addresses are not compatible with the State-wide voter information system.”
McCaskill raised the issue when she met with Ms. Brennan on November 14, and the Postmaster General agreed to work with her to resolve the issue. McCaskill is now requesting information on the exact origin of the problem and a final date by which the USPS plans to solve the issue.
Read a copy of McCaskill’s letter to the Postmaster General HERE.
Visit mccaskill.senate.gov/rural to learn more about McCaskill’s fight to protect rural Missouri.
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