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Washington –Postal Secretary Louis DeJoy assured Congress on Friday that the U.S. Postal Service would be able to process the nation’s ballots in November.
“As we enter election season, I want to assure this committee, and the American public, that the Postal Service is fully capable of delivering the country’s election mail safely and on time,” DeJoy said.
DeJoy, who has been at the center of controversy over postal service cost-cutting changes that have raised concerns about the ability to handle mail-in ballots for the November election, testified before the Committee on Friday. Senate of Homeland Security and Government Affairs.
The main Republican backer and close ally of President Trump appeared before the Republican-led panel to answer questions about the finances and operations of the postal agency during the coronavirus pandemic, which has exacerbated the service’s budget problems postal service and the next general election.
After being appointed Postmaster in June, he implemented a series of operational changes intended to save the struggling Postal Service money, reducing overtime and banning postal workers from making overtime trips for the late mail. Under his agency supervision, it was also reported that blue mail collection boxes had been phased out and large mail sorting machines were reduced.
These changes have resulted in a slowdown in mail delivery.
DeJoy said on Friday he was “extremely confident” that the Postal Service will be able to guarantee that ballots sent out seven days before election day are processed and counted. “We will search every plant every night before election day,” he promised.
He also expressed his support for the postal vote, telling senators, “I think the American public should be able to vote by mail, and the Postal Service will support it.”
That said, in response to questions about letters sent by the Postal Service to 46 states and the District of Columbia warning that mail-in ballots may not be processed in time to be counted, DeJoy said the problem was linked to states’ deadlines for sending electoral mail. . He said some deadlines were too close to the Da election and encouraged Americans to vote early.
“I never spoke to the president of the Postal Service,” DeJoy said. He also said he had never spoken to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin or White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about service changes.
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