As the Trump administration begins implementing cost-cutting operational changes that services have already begun delaying, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost calls on President Trump to postpone Post Office reforms until after the elections in November, according to a letter received by CBS News.
In the letter, dated August 16, Yost, a Republican, told the president that “the radical changes only weeks before early voting begins – albeit fiscally well-established – would place the Solvency of the Post Office above the legitimacy of the government. even though.” Early voting begins in the state on October 6th.
He cited reports that included the removal of sorting boxes and e-mail boxes, adding that changes would likely come from legal battles. Secretary of State Frank LaRose of Ohio said at a news conference last week that the state would limit the county election boards to one single ballot box per county.
“These changes so close to the election will certainly lead to litigation, which in turn will create a sense of chaos and uncertainty that is likely to roll right into the early voting period – leaving the thousands of contestants in the race. November de-legitimize, “Yost wrote. The Columbus Dispatch first reported Yost’s letter.
LaRose also recently announced a 48-point guidance plan on safe voting to the Ohio Board of Elections. Recommendations include social distance, mandatory care workers to wear face masks, routine cleaning machines regularly and allow moods for sidewalks.
Yost expressed confidence in election officials in Ohio and their ability to manage an election safely and securely. He wrote that whatever reform the president wants to carry out “can not come at the expense of our faith in the 2020 elections.”
He advised Mr Trump to clarify his plan for operational change at the Postal Service and to ask the Board of Directors to postpone any changes until after the election.
Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, criticized the president for his handling of the Postal Service at a virtual press conference on Monday. Brown notes that many rely on email to receive medications and to pay bills, in addition to casting their ballots.
“It’s great that the President of the United States thinks it’s okay to scare people, thinks it’s okay to start dismantling this great institution that has a very productive workforce,” Brown said. .
All registered voters in Ohio – 7.8 million – will receive an absentee ballot paper sent around Labor Day. Ohio is a “no-excuse” absentee ballot. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is October 31, three days before election day. Ballots must be postmarked before election day to count, and the deadline to register to vote is October 5th.
The Postal Service warned Ohio in late July that because its absent deadline for voting reports is so close to election day, “there is a significant risk that the vote will not reach the voter by the state’s November 2 postmark deadline.” It suggested that voters instead have to submit their requests much earlier, so that election officials get them “at least 15 days before election day, and preferably long before that time.”
Cara Korte contributed to this report.
Read Yost’s letter here:
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