BIRMINGHAM – U.S. Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, alongside a group of his colleagues, is urging U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to provide answers regarding reports of recent changes to long-standing practices at the United States Postal Service that would result in increased delivery times and costs for election mail, and urged him not take any further action that makes it harder and more expensive to vote by mail.
Despite reports from across the country of slow delivery, mail left sitting in facilities overnight, and challenges delivering absentee ballots on time to election officials, DeJoy has refused to provide Congress with satisfactory answers on his actions he has taken and continues to assert that election officials must pay the First Class rate for election mail to be prioritized. This letter follows previous requests from the lawmakers that demanded answers from DeJoy after he refused to answer whether reported changes restricting mail delivery came at his direction. DeJoy has since confirmed changes in delayed mail came at his direction.
“Like voting itself, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is vital to our democracy. Since you assumed the role of Postmaster General, there have been disturbing reports regarding changes at USPS that are causing significant delays in the delivery of mail. Under normal circumstances, delayed mail is a major problem – during a pandemic in the middle of a presidential election, it is catastrophic,” the senators wrote in the letter to Postermaster DeJoy .
The senators continued, “Despite our continued efforts, Congress has so far only provided states with $400 million in emergency funding for elections—billions short of what experts say is needed to keep voters safe this year. As election officials across the country plead with Congress to authorize additional election funding, reports suggest the Postal Service could implement changes that suddenly increase costs for Americans to safely vote. That is wrong and unacceptable.”
“As Postmaster General, you have a duty to our democracy to ensure the timely delivery of election mail. Millions of Americans’ right to vote depends on your ability to get the job done. We urge you not to increase costs for election officials, and to direct all Postal Service employees to continue to prioritize delivery of election mail,” they wrote.
Full text of the letter can be found here
Media Release/Office of Alabama Senator Doug Jones
