Citing several postal personnel and union leaders, the Write-up documented that parts of the country are dealing with at minimum a two-day delay in acquiring mail, like for convey mail, as a final result of the US Postal Service’s new guidelines.
The current backlog is worsening to the issue in which staff worry they would not be ready to track down all voters’ ballots in time for them to be processed, the newspaper described.
The new procedures for the USPS were laid out in a memo before this month and arrive underneath the management of Postmaster Typical Louis DeJoy, a longtime Donald Trump supporter and fundraiser, who stepped into his purpose in June.
Trump has been a vocal critic of numerous states’ expanding mail-in voting, in spite of using that
alternative to solid his individual ballot. As he at this time trails his 2020 rival Joe Biden in the polls, Trump claimed
on Thursday that delays processing the mail-in votes would undermine the legitimacy of the November 3 election and instructed delaying it, however the power to set the election date lies with Congress. There is
no evidence of popular voter fraud involved with vote by mail.
In a assertion to CNN Thursday, the USPS acknowledged some “temporary provider impacts” from the the latest changes but disputed concerns that its value chopping and effectiveness actions put in location by DeJoy will interfere with timely shipping and delivery of mail-in votes.
“To be distinct having said that, and despite any assertions to the opposite, we are not slowing down Election Mail or any other mail. In its place, we go on to utilize a robust and demonstrated method to assure proper dealing with of all Election Mail steady with our specifications,” USPS spokesperson David Partenheimer mentioned.
The new policies contain hours staying cut back inside of the US Postal Provider, according to the memo obtained by CNN that exhibits talking points presented to USPS managers across the state on July 10.
In accordance to the memo, time beyond regulation, which include late journeys and more visits by USPS employees, is no longer licensed or acknowledged. This is defined as a price tag slicing evaluate that could help you save the economically having difficulties USPS about $200 million.
“A single element of these alterations that may perhaps be tricky for workforce is that, quickly — we might see mail remaining at the rear of or mail on the workroom floor or docks … which is not standard,” reads the memo.
The memo states any mail still left driving will be reported with the “root causes” of the delays resolved the future working day, with the intention of the volume of delayed mail shrinking above time, but the truth of that continues to be unclear as the modifications are new.
The Washington Submit noted that bins of mail usually completely ready for supply have been left in publish offices thanks to the scheduling and route alterations, and letter carriers are sorting much more mail themselves, raising the delivery time. US Rep. Andy Kim of New Jersey final week
wrote to DeJoy, declaring that his constituents have been enduring supply delays for a lot more than 3 days.
DeJoy stated in a
statement Monday that the Postal Provider is in a “economically unsustainable posture” and that the agency needs to “just take a fresh new glimpse at our functions and make needed changes” to run competently.
Partenheimer reported in the assertion that any “this kind of impacts will be monitored and momentary as the root brings about of any issues will be dealt with as important and corrected as correct.”
He went on to say that DeJoy is not beholden to the impact of Trump and that the “notion that the Postmaster Standard tends to make conclusions concerning the Postal Support at the way of the President is wholly misplaced and off-base.”
The USPS’ money struggles are not new, but the coronavirus pandemic has
exacerbated the challenge and taken its toll on the agency’s personnel. Former Postmaster Standard Megan Brennan had
warned the agency would run out of money by September if money guidance wasn’t supplied.
On Wednesday, the Treasury Office
declared that it attained an arrangement with USPS on the “phrases and conditions” for $10 billion in the sort of financial loans — funding the section and President Donald Trump had blocked unless of course the USPS designed reforms.
“Whilst the USPS is equipped to fund its working bills without having added borrowing at this time, we are delighted to have achieved an arrangement on the material phrases and problems of a bank loan, need to the need come up,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin mentioned in a assertion.
The union’s president, Mark Dimondstein, experienced
earlier informed CNN that receiving the crisis funding the USPS asked for is crucial for postal employees to carry on undertaking their career, together with ensuring vote by mail ballots are handled properly.
“If the funding does not arrive by means of, all the things we do, including vote by mail will be considerably more difficult,” Dimondstein informed CNN.
CNN’s Mary Kay Mallonee, Ellie Kaufman and Gregory Wallace contributed to this report.