The United States Postal Service (USPS) has been the target of controversy over the last four months as it could affect the November election results.
Shortly after postmaster general Louis DeJoy was elected in June The Washington Post received internal documents revealing that USPS staff members are not allowed to work overtime. The company declined to state clearly if employees were told to leave mail unattended at the end of their shift— thus not working late.
DeJoy has also faced criticism for some of his actions as postmaster general, including removing USPS mailboxes from communities and decommissioning more than 600 mail sorting machines. DeJoy claims these changes will improve performance for the upcoming “peak season” and maintain the “high level of public trust [they’ve] earned for dedication and commitment to [their] customers throughout history.” Despite publicly defending his actions, DeJoy acknowledged in a memo sent out to USPS workers, the “unintended consequences that impacted [their] overall service level,” as reported by CNN in early August.
Ron Stroman, the previous USPS postmaster general, told The Guardian that he shares the public confusion and concern with delivery delays occurring shortly before an election with “enormous consequences.” According to The Washington Post, it is expected that 47% of voters for Joe Biden and 23% of voters for Donald Trump will vote via mail.
A letter was sent to 46 states and D.C. on July 19 warning that USPS cannot confirm that all ballots will make it to be counted on time, further growing public concern. This could mean that millions of people will not have their vote counted before the election. DeJoy later claims that the election mail will go through despite Trump’s budget cuts.
Trump admitted to opposing a bill put forward by Democrats in Congress August 12, calling for additional funding to the USPS to assist with the increased demand for mail services due to mass amounts of requested mail-in and absentee voting ballots due to COVID-19. Trump claims mail-in voting is a set-up for voter fraud, which has been statistically disproved by past precedent.
“They want $3.5 billion … [and] …$25 billion for the post office,” Trump said to NPR News. “Now, they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. Now, in the meantime, [the ballots] aren’t getting [delivered]. But if [the USPS doesn’t] get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped to have it.”
Trump defended his refusal to allocate additional funds to the USPS, telling NPR, “It’s going to be the greatest fraud in the history of elections. When you always talk about Russia, Russia, Russia and China, Iran on voting — the biggest problem is going to be with the Democrats, not with China, Russia and Iran.”
Trump’s actions have led to many young voters taking action to support the USPS, including East senior Stella McKinney.
“I know a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to get political, I don’t like to talk,’ and that’s fine, I completely understand that, but this is a different sort of situation,” McKinney said. “I think more people just need to educate themselves about it instead of ignoring it.”
McKinney has gone to buy stamps from USPS multiple times, which is a popular way to support the USPS for young people, as well as regularly promoting the USPS on her social media accounts.
“I have a lot of opinions about it, in general just how many jobs will be lost just by the fact that Trump is trying to completely control our mailing system,” McKinney said. “Buying postage stamps is really important for everyone to get that message out there because it really supports [the USPS]. And I’ve done that a few times.”
McKinney recognizes the current USPS situation is very political, but she encourages her peers to use social media as a tool for expressing their opinions.
“Posting it on social media— not being afraid to post stuff like that so people can be, ‘Oh that’s happening like let’s look,’” McKinney adds. “I think it’s amazing.”
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