New policies imposed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, involving the removal of postal sorting machines from post offices, are being accused of attempts to sabotage the upcoming US election.
Head of Iowa Postal Workers Union, Kimberly Karol, claimed that mail has piled up, while equipment normally used to process it has been removed following new policies, potentially impacting postal-ballot votes come the US election in November.
A bit suss: Postmaster General and known Trump supporter removes postal sorting machines, slowing down in-mail voting service just 90 days out from US election.
DeJoy is a known major GOP donor to President Donald Trump, and the changes to postal operations have been criticised by Democrats. With a surge in mail-in voting in November’s election expected, the changes could essentially decide the vote.
Trump’s attacks on the USPS should concern us all. Millions of Americans and small businesses rely on this critical service for everything from delivering prescriptions to voting. We can’t allow the Trump administration to undermine it.
— Sen. Cory Booker (@SenBooker) August 11, 2020
House Democrats have now unveiled legislation that would reverse the new policies and prevent any additional changes that could be imposed. House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney released a statement in relation to the legislation, saying, “Our Postal Service should not become an instrument of partisan politics, but instead be protected as a neutral, independent entity that focuses on one thing and one thing only – delivering mail.”
“At this junction in our nation’s history, when the number of Americans voting by mail for this presidential election is expected to more than double from the last, Congress must protect the right of all eligible citizens to have their vote counted,” the statement continued.
“A once-in-a-century pandemic is no time to enact changes that threaten service reliability and transparency.”
There have been calls for DeJoy to be removed from his post while the Postmaster General is facing a senate investigation, with the ‘cut-costing’ measures being called out by Karol.
Speaking to NPR‘s Noel King, Karol described: “His policies – although they’ve only been in place for a few weeks – are now affecting the way we do business and not allowing us to deliver every piece every day as we’ve done in the past.”
She continued, “I don’t see this as cost-saving measures. I see this as a way to undermine the public confidence in the mail service. It’s not saving costs. We’re spending more time trying to implement these policy changes.”
The policy change comes after Trump himself has claimed that mail-in voting would result in an “inaccurate and fraudulent election,” before calling for the 2020 election to be delayed.
With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020
This one seems a bit suss.
