Protesters Defend The U.S. Postal Service

The U.S. Postal Service has sent warnings to 46 states that it may not be able to deliver their ballots on time for the November election, as Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, blasted the Trump-appointed postmaster general.

Former President Barack Obama escalated the Democratic response to the mail slow-down on Friday, accusing President Donald Trump of trying to “actively kneecap the Postal Service” to suppress the vote. The nation’s mayors said Saturday that safe voting, including vote-by-mail, “must be a national priority.”

The Postal Service’s inspector general said Friday she’s opened an investigation into complaints by Democrats about cuts to mail services that have slowed delivery of mail and may imperil vote-by-mail operations. Democrats have also raised the alarm about delays to mail-order prescription drugs for seniors, military veterans, and others.

The vast majority of states are set to allow mail-in voting in response to the coronavirus pandemic, even as Trump condemns the practice almost daily, saying it’s rife with fraud, though there’s no evidence that is the case. Trump and his wife have requested mail-in ballots for Florida’s primary election, which is Tuesday, CNN reported.

Obama, who’s rarely spoken out against his successor since leaving office, pointed to Trump’s recent remarks linking his opposition to $25 billion in emergency postal funding to his fears about mail-in ballots. Trump has also said he won’t approve a request for $3.5 billion for election resources.

“That’s sort of unheard of, right?” Obama said in an interview with his former adviser, David Plouffe, on his “Campaign HQ” podcast. On Twitter, Obama urged people to vote early in states where that’s an option. Voting in some states opens in mid-September.

On Thursday, Trump said that not approving a financial lifeline for the postal service sought by Democrats would mean that “you can’t have universal mail-in voting, because they’re not equipped to have it.”

Congressional Democrats on Friday asked Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a large donor to Trump and other Republicans, to provide more information on cutbacks he ordered at the Postal Service last month. In a letter, they said the service seemed to be reversing a longstanding policy of prioritizing election-related mail.

“The Postal Service should not make changes that slow down the mail or in any way compromise service for veterans, small businesses, rural communities, seniors, and millions of Americans who rely on the mail -- including significant numbers of people who will be relying on the Postal Service to exercise their right to vote,” wrote Pelosi and five other top Democrats.

Representative Bill Pascrell, a Democrat from New Jersey, went further. He asked that his state’s attorney general launch a grand jury investigation to consider criminal indictments against Trump and DeJoy for “the subversion of New Jersey state elections.”

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