Amid accusations of meddling with mail-in voting, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has suspended United States Postal Service ( USPS ) reforms until after the 2020 election.
“The United States Postal Service will play a critical role this year in delivering election mail for millions of voters across the country,” DeJoy wrote in a USPS press release . “There has been a lot of discussion recently about whether the Postal Service is ready, willing and able to meet this challenge.”
DeJoy assured Americans that the Postal Service is ready to handle any volume of mail it receives for the upcoming elections. He said that the company will deliver all electoral ballots in a timely manner and claimed that managing the process is the company’s top priority “between now and election day.”
Afterward, DeJoy used the press release to announce expansions of the leadership election task force designed to coordinate with local and state officials to handle the expected high number of mail-in ballots on Election Day.
“Leaders of our postal unions and management associations have committed to joining this taskforce to ensure strong coordination throughout our organization. Because of the unprecedented demands of the 2020 election, this taskforce will help ensure that election officials and voters are well informed and fully supported by the Postal Service.”
Although DeJoy expressed his belief that reforms are necessary to ensure the long-term success of the USPS, he said such reforms would not take place until after the conclusion of the election to avoid impacting the service. The American businessman also outlined various commitments to Americans, including keeping all processing facilities open, maintaining retail business hours, and not moving any blue collection boxes and mail processing equipment.
DeJoy and Donald Trump have been accused of attempting to undermine the efficiency of the Postal Service in order to stifle mail-in voting and help the president’s chances in 2020. As The Inquisitr reported, Bernie Sanders recently expressed concern with the possibility and accused Trump of attempting to harm American democracy with his purported attacks of the service. Notably, the president himself claimed that his opposition to post office funding was linked to his desire to prevent Democrat-led efforts to expand vote-by-mail.
In response to the accusations, Trump threw his support behind DeJoy, who he claimed has positive intentions with the post office.
DeJoy is currently under investigation by a post office watchdog that is allegedly examining his compliance with federal ethics rules and recent policy changes within the agency.