Postmaster General Announces Pause To Operational Changes Until After Election, Insists USPS Can Handle Flood Of Ballots

US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a Tuesday statement that the USPS will be able to handle “whatever volume of election mail it receives this fall” despite challenges posed by “keeping our employees and customers safe and healthy as they operate amid a pandemic.”

“We will deliver the nation’s election mail on time and within our well-established service standards.”

DeJoy also noted that the USPS will pause planned organizational changes at the heart of election interference conspiracy theories on the left, according to Reuters.

Earlier this month, DeJoy announced ‘sweeping overhaul’ which Democrats have suggested could hinder mail-in voting and benefit President Trump.

Democrats have cited reductions in overtime, restrictions on extra mail transportation trips and new mail sorting and delivery policies as changes that threaten to slow mail delivery of ballots and other critical mail such as medicines. –Reuters

And on Monday, President Trump denied accusations that he was attempting to interfere with the USPS’s ability to handle the massive influx of mail-in ballots expected due to the coronavirus.

“No, we’re not tampering,” Trump told Fox News in a Monday interview. “We want to make it run for less money, much better, always taking care of our postal workers.”

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, has asked Trump to postpone the operational changes until after the Nov. 3 elections. The post office is a “perennial drain on the Treasury,” he said in a letter. “But making the radical changes only weeks before early voting begins – however fiscally well founded – would place the solvency of the Post Office above the legitimacy of the government itself.” –Reuters

Meanwhile as we reported on Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) put down the ice cream and called on the House to return early from August recess in order to vote on an emergency package for the $25 billion House Democrats included in their coronavirus bill in May – along with an additional $3.6 billion to fund election security.

Curiously, nobody had a problem when Obama removed 12,000 mailboxes in August of 2016. While there was no pandemic, wouldn’t that have similarly prevented mail-in ballots from being cast?

Full statement:

WASHINGTON, DC — Postmaster General Louis DeJoy issued the following statement today:

“The United States Postal Service will play a critical role this year in delivering election mail for millions of voters across the country. There has been a lot of discussion recently about whether the Postal Service is ready, willing and able to meet this challenge.

I want to make a few things clear:

The Postal Service is ready today to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives this fall. Even with the challenges of keeping our employees and customers safe and healthy as they operate amid a pandemic, we will deliver the nation’s election mail on time and within our well-established service standards. The American public should know that this is our number one priority between now and election day. The 630,000 dedicated women and men of the Postal Service are committed, ready and proud to meet this sacred duty.

I am announcing today the expansion of our current leadership taskforce on election mail to enhance our ongoing work and partnership with state and local election officials in jurisdictions throughout the country. Leaders of our postal unions and management associations have committed to joining this taskforce to ensure strong coordination throughout our organization. Because of the unprecedented demands of the 2020 election, this taskforce will help ensure that election officials and voters are well informed and fully supported by the Postal Service.
I want to assure all Americans of the following:

 • Retail hours at Post Offices will not change.

 • Mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes will remain where they are.

 • No mail processing facilities will be dosed.

 • And we reassert that overtime has, and will continue to be, approved as needed.

In addition, effective Oct. 1, we will engage standby resources in all areas of our operations, including transportation, to satisfy any unforeseen demand.

I am grateful for the commitment and dedication of all the men and women of the Postal Service, and the trust they earn from the American public every day, especially as we continue to contend with the impacts of COVID-19. As we move forward, they will have the full support of our organization throughout the election.”