Democrats are increasingly voicing concerns over vote-by-mail plans that many states have adopted amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Much of the concern stems from the recent changes made to the U.S. Postal Service, where President Trump appointed longtime GOP donor and businessman Louis DeJoy as the new postmaster general. In his short time as head of the federal agency, DeJoy has implemented numerous centralization changes and has sidelined a number of Postal Service veterans.
Democrats have been quick to attack the changes, which Republicans have long called for. The Postal Service faces billions of dollars in losses on a nearly annual basis.
“Postmaster General DeJoy is calling this a ‘modified organizational structure.’ It’s really a Trojan Horse,” wrote Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia. “Deliberate sabotage to disrupt mail service on the eve of the election — an election that hinges on mail-in ballots.”
The organizational restructuring by DeJoy has been dramatic and includes restrictions on overtime pay and processing deliveries. One change in particular, which requires carriers to hold mail until the following day if it is not delivered by the end of a shift, has made many Democrats believe the changes — and their timing — are part of a deliberate strategy by the Trump administration.
“The new organization will align functions based on core business operations and will provide more clarity and focus on what the Postal Service does best; collect, process, move and deliver mail and packages,” the Postal Service said in a statement after announcing the changes.
But some Democrats say the timing, as Trump and GOP allies attack states for dramatically expanding mail-in ballot access before the November election, is potentially part of a plan by the president to hinder absentee voting, which generally favors Democrats.
Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, wrote in his newsletter, titled “Time to Sound the Alarm,” that he was “officially very concerned about Trump using mail delays to steal a close election.”
On Friday, seven Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, wrote a letter to Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb asking for an investigation into the postal changes.
“These delays also pose a threat to the November election, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, when millions of Americans are expected to choose to vote by mail rather than wait in long lines on Election Day,” the lawmakers wrote.
Postal workers themselves have speculated that the changes are meant to drive customers away from the Postal Service and say customers can expect delayed deliveries.
“As they risk their health each day along with other front-line essential workers, letter carriers have become angry, frustrated, and embarrassed by various USPS management initiatives that are now resulting in delayed mail and undelivered routes in many areas of the country,’’ said Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, which represents nearly half of all postal workers.
The criticism has extended all the way to Obama, who, during his eulogy in July for Rep. John Lewis, said Trump was suppressing the vote “with surgical precision, even undermining the Postal Service in the runup to an election that is going to be dependent on mailed-in ballots so people don’t get sick.”
Democrats believe that any changes that result in late mail could have a devastating impact on their election prospects in November. Thirty-four states currently have laws that invalidate mailed ballots that do not arrive before Election Day. A handful of states, like New York, do not even allow the counting of ballots until polls close on Nov. 3.
Millions of mail-in ballot applications have already been sent out to voters across the country, and most election analysts anticipate that the upcoming election will have the highest amount of proxy voting in the country’s history. A number of states, like Nevada, plan to send ballots to all registered voters automatically.
In response to these concerns, a burgeoning effort to expand drop-off mail locations rapidly has been circulating on social media. Noted liberal legal scholar Laurence Tribe wrote on Twitter that “EVERYBODY should get behind the #Dropbox movement right now!”
