Raising the stakes in the fall general election, the U.S. Postal Service sent letters to 46 states, including Pennsylvania, warning that it cannot guarantee that all mail-in ballots cast in the November general election will arrive on time and be counted, per published reports.
The Washington Post and other news outlets reported Friday that the warning came even as the Trump White House and congressional Democrats fight over $25 billion in aid for the Postal Service and $3.6 billion in aid to states for relief. postal voting.
On Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump said he would agree to aid if (*46*) leaders make concessions in stalled talks on a fresh coronavirus aid package.
“Sure, if they give us what we want,” Trump said at a news conference: according to Reuters. Trump accused Democrats of “blocking” aid to Americans.
The warning letters, sent by general counsel and executive vice president Thomas J. Marshall, were scheduled before the Postal Service undertook sweeping cost cuts that delayed mail delivery by up to a week in some parts of the country.
https://twitter.com/PAStateDept/status/1293898174382444544?s=20
The post office also decided to decommission 10 percent. their sorting machines, raising fears of additional delays, The case was reported by the Washington Post.. The Postal Service is run by Louis Dejoy, a logistics expert and major Trump donor.
ViceNews Motherboard reported Saturday that plans to retire the machines had been in place since May, before Dejoy took over as postmaster general:
“The language used in the notice to union officials undermines the Postal Service’s narrative that the organization simply ‘transferred[ing] equipment in your network” to optimize processing, as spokesman Dave Partenheimer told Motherboard on Thursday– reports Vice. “The May document specifically calls this initiative “hardware reduction.” There is no mention of moving the machines to other facilities. The notice to union officials uses the same wording repeatedly. Multiple Postal Service sources told Motherboard they had personally witnessed the machines in action cost millions of dollarsdestroyed or thrown into the trash. USPS did not respond to a request for comment.”
A Washington Post analysis ranked Pennsylvania among states facing an “elevated warning” of delays, representing a cohort of 186 million voters nationwide.
Late Thursday, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to extend mail-in voting deadlines for the November general election.
Read the full text of the letter:
United States Postal Service Letter to States By jmicek on Scribd
