'US Postal Service Warned 46 States Last Month (July 29) That Their Elections Are In Jeopardy'
'Postal Service warned 46 states last month that their elections are in jeopardy.' Joan McCarter, Daily Kos, 4:47 PM, EDT, Aug. 14, 2020. - Excerpts, Ed.:
The U.S. Postal Service sent letters to 46 states and Washington, D.C. warning that it cannot guarantee that mailed-in ballots for the November election will arrive in time to be counted. The Washington Post got the letter through a records request. The letters were sent at the end of July from Thomas J. Marshall, general counsel and executive vice president of the Postal Service, but were planned before Louis DeJoy, Trump campaign donor and willing lackey, got his appointment in June, according to the Post.
- (Here's the letter sent to Minnesota's Security of State Steve Simon on July 29, Snips):
7 states, with a total of 40 million voters, got a narrow warning saying that for some voters, ballots could be delayed. But 40 other states—representing 186 million voters and including the battlegrounds of MI, PA, and FL—got the more serious warning "that their long-standing deadlines for requesting, returning or counting ballots were 'incongruous' with mail service and that voters who send ballots in close to those deadlines may become disenfranchised."...
...Republicans are suing in PA and NV to stop the states from setting up drop boxes for ballots. They're suing to retain strict photo ID and signature requirements for absentee ballots. They're suing to make sure getting a ballot to the elections office on time is as onerous for people as possible.
- Friday, Aug 14, 2020 · 5:19 PM EDT · Joan McCarter
The Inspector General for the Postal Service confirmed to CNN Friday that it is conducting a review of “policy changes recently imposed under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, and is also examining DeJoy's compliance with federal ethics rules.” The investigation was requested by Sen. Elizabeth Warren. As of 5:18 EDT, Friday, Trump hasn’t fired this IG. And they're sabotaging the Postal Service. Even removing mail boxes from the blue areas of red states, in this case Montana, where the blue boxes have been disappearing from the state's college towns and most populated areas, like some in Missoula "[a]cross from the center of University of Montana," and "[d]owntown in front of a large senior citizen living facility and several office buildings."
Vice News has also reported on Postal Service internal documents it obtained outlining existing plans to slow down the mail sorting process by removing sorting machines. The Postal Service originally proposed removing 20% of the machines but revised the plan down to 15%, taking 502 out of service... One document is dated May 15, suggesting that the plan was in the works before DeJoy took the position. But those documents are not reflective of how this is playing out, according to the Post. They've obtained a grievance filed by the American Postal Workers Union that says the Postal Service has removed 671 mail sorting machines from across the country since June, concentrated in high-population areas. That represents a reduction in national mail sorting capacity of 21.4 million pieces of mail per hour.
But the Vice disclosures make it clear that the plan to start hobbling the Postal Service has been in the works for months—DeJoy just stepped in to carry it all out. And then some. It's hard to know whether the warning from Marshall, the general counsel, to the states was a genuine attempt to save this election or an effort to stoke more panic.
What is clear, though, is that this requires immediate action from across the board...
*Read The Full Article, https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/8/14/1969370/-Postal-Service-warned-46-states-last-month-that-their-elections-are-in-jeopardy
______________________________
*Related:- Congressman Wants New Jersey's AG To Investigate Trump's Post Office Shenanigans *UPDATED* Daily Kos, Aug. 14, 2020. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/8/14/1969402/-Congressman-Wants-New-Jersey-s-AG-to-Over-Trump-s-Post-Office-Shenanigans?utm_campaign=trending
- Montana, Yes, Montana Stops Destruction of The Post Office, Daily Kos, Aug. 14, 2020.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/8/14/1969421/-Montana-yes-Montana-stops-destruction-of-the-Post-Office?utm_campaign=trending
= new reply since forum marked as read
- Wash. Post. Local: "Postal Service warns 46 states their voters could be disenfranchised by delayed mail-in ballots." By Erin Cox, Elise Viebeck, Jacob Bogage and Christopher Ingraham. August 14, 2020 at 4:44 p.m. EDT. - Excerpts:
Anticipating an avalanche of absentee ballots, the U.S. Postal Service recently sent detailed letters to 46 states and D.C. warning that it cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail for the November election will arrive in time to be counted — adding another layer of uncertainty ahead of the high-stakes presidential contest. The letters sketch a grim possibility for the tens of millions of Americans eligible for a mail-in ballot this fall: Even if people follow all of their state’s election rules, the pace of Postal Service delivery may disqualify their votes.
The Postal Service’s warnings of potential disenfranchisement came as the agency undergoes a sweeping organizational and policy overhaul amid dire financial conditions. Cost-cutting moves have already delayed mail delivery by as much as a week in some places, and a new decision to decommission 10 percent of the Postal Service’s sorting machines sparked widespread concern the slowdowns will only worsen. Rank-and-file postal workers say the move is ill-timed and could sharply diminish the speedy processing of flat mail, including letters and ballots.
See the letters the U.S. Postal Service sent to states
[The ballot warnings] go beyond the traditional coordination between the Postal Service and election officials, drafted as fears surrounding the coronavirus pandemic triggered an unprecedented and sudden shift to mail-in voting. “The Postal Service is asking election officials and voters to realistically consider how the mail works,” Martha Johnson, a spokeswoman for the USPS, said in a statement. In response to the Postal Service’s warnings, a few states have quickly moved deadlines — forcing voters to request or cast ballots earlier, or deciding to delay tabulating results while waiting for more ballots to arrive.
Pennsylvania election officials cited its letter late Thursday in asking the state’s Supreme Court for permission to count ballots delivered three days after Election Day. But deadlines in many other states have not been or cannot be adjusted with just weeks remaining before the first absentee ballots hit the mail stream. More than 60 lawsuits in at least two dozen states over the mechanics of mail-in voting are wending their way through the courts...
More, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/usps-states-delayed-mail-in-ballots/2020/08/14/64bf3c3c-dcc7-11ea-8051-d5f887d73381_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
