Officials say the USPS has removed mailboxes in at least four states in the past week: New York, Oregon, Montana and Indiana. The USPS has also begun notifying postal workers in at least three states – West Virginia, Florida and Missouri – that they will begin reducing their hours in retail, according to union officials.
Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called the removal of mailboxes “bizarre” during an online fundraiser Friday.
“I used to joke with a couple on the call. I wonder if you’re trying to keep your mailboxes outside. They’re literally walking around with tractors picking up mailboxes,” he said. “You have to go online and check out what they’re doing in Oregon. I mean, it’s bizarre!”
A late. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, called removing the boxes for letter collection “voter repression” on Twitter. Blaiming President Donald Trump, Wyden said the president is sabotaging the election “right under our noses.”
But USPS spokeswoman Kimberly Frum suggested the removal, and installation, of the nearly 142,000 mailboxes nationwide was nationwide, and “is based on mail volume received in those boxes.”
Frum said the postal service has placed more emphasis on stabilizing the number in use and moving “low-use boxes to high-traffic areas.”
Frum did not immediately respond to CNN’s questions about the reduced hours in West Virginia, Florida and Missouri.
The USPS has gained intense scrutiny in recent weeks, as many Americans are expected to vote in this presidential election by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite guaranteeing the public earlier this month that it could handle the added volume of post-in-ballots, the postal service sent letters to several states warning them that delays in delivery could cause ballots to appear late and not be counted.
Trump has frequently attacked the postal service, and Louis DeJoy, the newly installed postmaster general, has made sweeping changes to the public service, such as reimbursement of overtime, leading to slow services. Union officials have consistently warned that new cost-cutting measures by DeJoy and USPS leadership could have a negative impact on the service’s ability to deliver timely election-related mail.
Union officials have said they are working hard to ensure that e-mail voting is processed quickly and appropriately. However, these new protocols are just the latest changes introduced by USPS that have made some voters uneasy and further increase confidence in their mail system.
USPS closes some post offices for lunch, and ends on extended evening hours
In the St. Louisville area, some post offices that were open until 6:30 p.m. – specifically to serve people who get off-work – would begin closing at 5 p.m., according to Rebecca Livingston, American Postal Workers Union president . Louis Gateway.
Union officials in West Virginia, Florida and Missouri also said workers are being told that post offices should close one hour before lunch.
Lunch “is historically her busiest time,” Sinikka Melvin, president of Clarksburg, West Virginia, local American Postal Worker Union, told CNN.
People often come in at their own lunch hour to send email or buy USPS retail products such as stamps, according to Melvin. USPS’s reduction in shop hours worries union officials, who believe it could create long lines among clerks during election season.
By compounding the problem, those lines could be extended by reducing the boxes for letter collection in neighborhoods and outside post offices, Melvin and other unions told CNN.
Senators want answers on USPS mailboxes
Boxes for letter collection have been removed in at least four states, leading some top politicians to ask the agency for answers.
In New York, Jonathan Smith, president of the local American Postal Workers Union, said the blue boxes that were removed were brought to a post office in the Bronx. Photos obtained by CNN show some of the USPS ‘blue mailboxes in a storage area, with some behind chains. It is unclear if all of these mailboxes have been deleted recently.
As originally contacted by CNN about the removal of 45 mailboxes in Montana, a USPS spokesman would not confirm the removal, saying, “Historically, mailboxes have been removed due to lack of use and installed in growth areas … It is a smooth process and figures can vary from day to day. “
On Thursday afternoon, Senator Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, asked DeJoy for answers.
Tester said Montanans’ office had said that USPS collection boxes “may have been removed from Bozeman and Lewistown and that there may be plans to remove boxes from Billings.”
In his letter to DeJoy, Tester asked the head of the USPS to remove collection boxes, the reason for the move and what has been communicated to the public about the case.
First Chamber Member Jeff Merkley, promised to ensure ballots are delivered on time.
“I can not believe Trump is making it harder to send email and vote in November,” Merkley said on Twitter. “We will fight like hell to make sure postmen and postmen can deliver every vote!”
CNN has reached out to other senators in New York, Montana, West Virginia, Florida, Missouri and Indiana for comment.
CNN’s Marshall Cohen and Sarah Mucha contributed to this report.
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