- Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general for the U.S. Postal Service, will appear in a public service announcement assuring Americans that voting by mail is safe, CNN reported Wednesday.
- It is not yet clear what the exact language of the PSA will be, but judging that sending via email is safe would directly contradict President Donald Trump’s counter-false assertion that voters mailing in their vote encourages fraud.
- The USPS and DeJoy have been criticized for measures saved in recent weeks, such as canceling overtime for mail carriers, cutting post office hours and removing some e-mail machines.
- The measures have raised suspicions about DeJoy, a Republican donor, ahead of the November presidential election.
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US Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will appear in a public service announcement designed to assure Americans that voting by mail is safe, CNN reported Wednesday.
It is not yet clear what the exact language of the PSA will be, but judging that sending via email is safe would directly contradict President Donald Trump’s counter-false assertion that voters mailing in their vote encourages fraud.
DeJoy has been under scrutiny in recent weeks over several austerity measures he implemented at the postal service, including removing hundreds of high-volume post-sorting machines across the country.
Other changes include removing some mail collection boxes, canceling mailboxes and cutting office space. All of this happened while Trump publicly attacked the postal service and voicemail on an almost daily basis. The moves have raised suspicions that Trump is trying to sabotage post-vote for the November presidential election.
Earlier this week, leading Democrats in the House and Senate DeJoy and other USPS officials testified before the House committee on Aug. 24 at an “urgent” hearing, Business Insider reported.
“The hearing will examine the sweeping operational and organizational changes at the Postal Service that may warn experts of degrading delivery standards, delaying the mail and potentially restricting the rights of eligible Americans to vote by mail in the upcoming November elections,” he said. read the Sunday statement.
There has been growing anger over delays by USPS and widespread concerns about the upcoming elections. The USPS sent letters to 46 states and Washington DC last month warning that they might not be able to deliver post-vote votes in time to count, potentially triggering thousands of voters if they did not ask for their votes early.
On Tuesday, the postmaster general reversed some of the austerity measures, saying the agency would save costs until the election, The Washington Post reported.
Trump has defended the postmaster, but also tried to distance himself over the weekend, Business Insider reported.
“I do not know what he is doing,” Trump said. “I can only tell you that he is a very smart man,” said DeJoy, “wanting to make the post office great again.”
A CNN poll found that 34% of registered voters say they would prefer to vote by post in the upcoming election. However, 66% of Trump supporters said they would prefer to vote in person, compared to 53% of voters who would rather vote for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
