Democrats are sounding the alarm after the USPS on-time delivery rate for first-class mail declined to 85.6 percent to the week ending October 16 and continues to drop ahead of the election. The development prompted Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to issue an official statement accusing Post Master General Louis DeJoy of trying to sabotage the election.
The sudden drop in mail first-class delivery comes days after a district judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to take measures to ensure mail-in ballots arrived on time to be counted for next week’s election.
This is a significant fall from an on-time rate of almost 91 percent for the three months to June, according to CBS News. This could affect the arrival of potentially crucial mail-in ballots. If ballots arrive too late, they will not be counted in some states.
Sen. Warren accused the USPS Board of Governors of being “accomplices” in DeJoy’s effort to sabotage the post office. She issued a statement on Wednesday.
Don't Miss
“The USPS Board of Governors has refused to release information about their own financial ties and has doubled down on their support of Louis DeJoy,” Warren said.
“Once again, I call on the board members to release their financial disclosure forms, remove DeJoy, and do their jobs by reversing DeJoy’s actions.”
“The @USPS Board of Governors are acting as accomplices to Louis DeJoy’s sabotage of the Postal Service,” she added in a tweet.
DeJoy has been accused of slowing down mail delivery through his policies, in particular his decision to dismantle high-speed mail sorting machines. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the restoration of some of the machines last week.
“Despite his assurances, the Postmaster General has failed to fix the problems he created and cannot be relied on for the on-time delivery of election mail,” Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said on Wednesday. She is chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee
“At this point, Americans should either vote in person or drop their ballot in an official drop box to avoid their ballots not being delivered on time,” she said.
