Tag

#USPS

2 incidents

Updated November 3, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Postal Service Sabotage: DeJoy Changes, Mail Slowdowns Before 2020 Election

Louis DeJoy was appointed Postmaster General in May 2020 despite having no postal service background and being a major Republican donor. Within weeks, DeJoy implemented changes including eliminating overtime (which slowed mail delivery), removing letter-sorting machines (which processed mail faster), reducing post office hours, and ordering trucks to depart on schedule rather than wait for mail. Mail piled up. First-class mail delivery times — the metric by which election mail is typically processed — deteriorated significantly. Trump simultaneously told Fox Business the slowdown was deliberate, saying he was withholding USPS funding specifically because it would facilitate mail-in voting he opposed.

Sources
4
USPSDeJoymail-in-votingfirst-termrule-of-law
Updated September 21, 2020 Rule of Law
Major Abuse of Power

DeJoy USPS Sabotage: Removed Sorting Machines, Slowed Mail Before 2020 Election

DeJoy's operational changes caused immediate and documented mail delays across the country. The changes were implemented months before the presidential election in which mail-in voting was expected to reach record levels due to COVID. Trump stated publicly that he was blocking Post Office funding to prevent mail-in voting. USPS removed 671 high-speed mail-sorting machines; some were dismantled before DeJoy announced a suspension of the changes in response to congressional and legal pressure. Multiple states sued. The sorting machine removals were not reversed even after the suspension.

Sources
4
USPSDeJoymail-in-voting2020-electionfirst-term