USPS Backs Off On The Changes With At Least 20 States Planning To File Federal Lawsuits
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has announced that all changes introduced to the Postal Service would come into effect only after the impending election. This move comes in the wake of 20 Democratic states gearing up to file federal lawsuits.
DeJoy confirmed that there will be no changes in retail hours of post offices, blue collection boxes, and mail processing equipment will not be moved from their place and mail processing facilities will remain open. At least twenty attorneys general across the United States are gearing up to launch a multi-pronged legal effort to delay the implementation of the recently introduced changes that interfered with mail delivery across the country and sparked allegations that Donald Trump and his aides are trying to sabotage mail-in voting.
The Democratic attorney's general claim that DeJoy is changing mail procedures just ahead of the upcoming election as the Post Office prepares for a high number of mail-in ballots. Voters around the country are looking to avoid casting ballots at polling centers due to the still-raging coronavirus pandemic, CNN reported.
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson released a statement accusing DeJoy of acting outside of his authority to introduce changes to the postal system, and not following the procedures under federal law. DeJoy and the USPS claim that the changes are implemented to boost the agency's alarming financial situation and the embattled Postmaster General denies allegations of making these changes at Trump's order.
Two lawsuits are being filed earlier this week. One filed by Washington state will be joined by Wisconsin, Virginia, Vermont, Rhode Island, Oregon, New Mexico, Nevada, Minnesota, Michigan, Maryland, Illinois, Connecticut, and Colorado.
Another group of state Democratic attorneys general will be filing a similar lawsuit in a federal court in Pennsylvania. These states include North Carolina, Maine, Delaware, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and California. The Washington state-led lawsuit uses the president's words and tweets against mail-in voting and links them to DeJoy's actions, claiming the president has attacked mail-in voting over 70 times without any sort of evidence.
After the announcement that his office will keep track of a sign of disruption to service, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said DeJoy introduced the changes keeping in line with repeated statements from Trump manifesting a partisan political motive to stopping voters from voting by mail. Padilla urged USPS permanently abandon those changes.
In his statement, Padilla noted that just suspending operational changes isn't enough, they need to be reversed. He went on to say that there should not be cuts to postal service, especially during the pandemic.