In what appears to be an effort to disrupt voting by mail, President Donald Trump’s newly confirmed U.S. Postal Service chief ordered the public service agency Monday to make major cost-cutting changes, which would slow mail delivery, according to a new report in The Washington Post.
In the documents, DeJoy instructed workers to leave mail at distribution centers if it would delay their routes.
“If the plants run late, they will keep the mail for the next day,” one of the documents said. “If you get mail late and your carriers are gone and you cannot get the mail out without OT, it will remain for the next day.”
The new directive goes against the training postal workers have traditionally received, which says they should avoid leaving letters behind and make sure items are delivered promptly, even if that means making multiple trips, The Post said.
“One aspect of these changes that may be difficult for employees is that — temporarily — we may see mail left behind or mail on the workroom floor or docks,” a second memo said, adding that “any mail left behind must be properly reported.”
In the same document, USPS said late trips and extra trips were now prohibited.
Experts who reviewed the internal document, titled “New PMG’s [Postmaster General’s] expectations and plan,” said it presented “a stark reimagining of the USPS,” which could alienate customers.
DeJoy, a North Carolina businessman, ascended to the head office in May to replace Ron Stroman. Stroman, who had defended the integrity of voting by mail, was reportedly forced out amid coordinated Republican attempts to undermine public faith in the service.
“Stroman was specifically key on elections and vote by mail — this is not a good sign,” ProPublica’s Jessica Huseman tweeted in response to the resignation.
The new policies come as USPS is barely scraping by during the coronavirus pandemic. Despite a vast quantity of package deliveries, overall letter-mail volumes have plummeted since the pandemic began and businesses shuttered. Even with a $10 billion line of credit granted under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, USPS has found itself in dire straits — in May, the agency estimated it could run out of cash by the end of September.
Two months ago, the Democrat-controlled House passed another $25 billion emergency aid package to keep the beleaguered agency alive, but the Republican-led Senate has not yet taken up the measure. The decision would likely fall to Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., the chair of the Republican-led Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which conducts oversight of the agency.
Johnson did not reply to a request for comment. However, his Democratic counterpart, ranking member Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, issued a statement to Salon.
“The Postal Service is a critical lifeline for our communities. Millions of Americans depend on the Postal Service to deliver prescription drugs and supplies to seniors, help small businesses stay connected with their customers, exercise the fundamental right to vote and ship the goods families need at home – no matter where they live,” Peters said.
Vote-by-mail advocates say any new policy which slows deliveries might mean bad news for mail-in ballots, yielding delays in ballot requests and possible confusion surrounding the tabulations of votes. This represents an acute concern for upstart Democratic congressional candidates looking to pick off Republican seats.
“The people in power are trying to keep voter turnout low, and they’re hoping that fear keeps us from exercising our constitutional right to vote so they can stay in power. But they have another thing coming,” MJ Hegar, who on Wednesday was declared the winner of the Democratic Senate primary in Texas, told Salon.
“We are going to keep fighting to allow Texans to vote by mail and ensure Texans don’t have to choose between exercising their constitutional right to vote and public health,” she added.
James Mackler, aspiring Democratic candidate for Senate in Tennessee and a veteran of the War in Iraq, called the report in The Post “deeply disturbing.”
“This deeply disturbing report is another example of a willingness to abuse the powers of the executive branch for political gain,” Mackler said in an email to Salon. “Our democracy works best when people vote, volunteer and make their voices heard. Efforts to suppress Americans’ right to vote – and do so safely by mail – fly in the face of what I fought to defend on the battlefield and in the courtroom.”
