Postmaster General Announces ‘Pause’ in Operational Changes Until After Election

TRUNEWS with RICK WILES Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced today that the U.S. Postal Service is holding off on any additional operational changes – meant to make the service more profitable and better able to deal with the coronavirus plandemic – until after the November election. DeJoy also addressed accusations made by Democrats – including President Barack Obama – that he is attempting to “kneecap” the USPS ahead of the election to prevent it from handling the expected massive volume of mail-in and absentee ballots. The following is his full statement: “The United States Postal Service will play a critical role this year in delivering election mail for millions of voters across the country. There has been a lot of discussion recently about whether the Postal Service is ready, willing and able to meet this challenge. “I want to make a few things clear: “The Postal Service is ready today to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives this fall. Even with the challenges of keeping our employees and customers safe and healthy as they operate amid a pandemic, we will deliver the nation’s election mail on time and within our well-established service standards. The American public should know that this is our number one priority between now and election day. The 630,000 dedicated women and men of the Postal Service are committed, ready and proud to meet this sacred duty. “I am announcing today the expansion of our current leadership taskforce on election mail to enhance our ongoing work and partnership with state and local election officials in jurisdictions throughout the country. Leaders of our postal unions and management associations have committed to joining this taskforce to ensure strong coordination throughout our organization. Because of the unprecedented demands of the 2020 election, this taskforce will help ensure that election officials and voters are well informed and fully supported by the Postal Service. “I came to the Postal Service to make changes to secure the success of this organization and its long-term sustainability. I believe significant reforms are essential to that objective, and work toward those reforms will commence after the election. In the meantime, there are some longstanding operational initiatives — efforts that predate my arrival at the Postal Service — that have been raised as areas of concern as the nation prepares to hold an election in the midst of a devastating pandemic. To avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded. “I want to assure all Americans of the following: • Retail hours at Post Offices will not change. • Mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes will remain where they are. • No mail processing facilities will be closed. • And we reassert that overtime has, and will continue to be, approved as needed. “In addition, effective Oct. 1, we will engage standby resources in all areas of our operations, including transportation, to satisfy any unforeseen demand. “I am grateful for the commitment and dedication of all the men and women of the Postal Service, and the trust they earn from the American public every day, especially as we continue to contend with the impacts of COVID-19. As we move forward, they will have the full support of our organization throughout the election.” To further their kneecapping-the-USPS conspiracy theory, Democrats had cited reductions in overtime, restrictions on extra mail transportation trips, and new mail sorting and delivery policies. They claimed these changes threatened to slow the delivery of mailed ballots and other critical mailed items, such as medicines. Both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal published editorials today slamming those claims as an “alarmist” and “evidence-free conspiracy theory.” Meanwhile, Democrats have doubled down, with two House members calling for a criminal investigation of DeJoy while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has recalled her chamber back into session from its summer recess to deal with the “concerns.” Specifically, the WSJ editorial stated: “This is a made-for-TV phony political crisis. The USPS has long-term challenges, but enough money to last into 2021. Mr. DeJoy says there’s ‘ample capacity to deliver all election mail.’ Some states have startlingly lax ballot deadlines, but nobody can pretend with a straight face that it’s the post office’s fault. Democrats have also scheduled a hearing for next Monday so they can yell at Mr. DeJoy in person. How long before Rep. Adam Schiff says it’s another Russia-Donald Trump conspiracy to steal the election?” The Times published an op-ed by former Chairwoman of the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission Ruth Goldway – a Democrat – who wrote, in part: “Don’t fall prey to the alarmists on both sides of this debate. The Postal Service is not incapacitated. It is still fully capable of delivering the mail. The focus of our collective concerns should be on how the Postal Service can improve the speed of delivery for election mail … the service’s expensive, overbuilt infrastructure can absorb the addition of more mail in 2020 – including election mail that is mailed to and sent back by every voter in every state.” Meanwhile, as each side has scrambled to point the finger of blame at the other over who will be responsible for election mail delivery delays, it has been revealed that the USPS quietly made a major election-related move earlier this year. According to the Patent and Trademark Office, the postal service has applied for a patent for a “secure voting system” based on blockchain technology. The application was filed Feb. 7. It states, in part: “Secure voting is a desirable attribute of voting and election systems. Often a voter is not able to or does not desire to go to a polling place to cast a vote. An election official in a jurisdiction may wish to send secure ballots via the mail. Or, a jurisdiction may opt to utilize electronic resources for voting. In such cases, a secure voting system is desired. The security of a voting system can be increased by using the dependability and security of the United States Postal Service or similar entity, and this can be incorporated with a secure computer system using a blockchain or distributed ledger to ensure vote security and to prevent tampering or modification of electronic voting results.” Click here for the full patent application: https://tinyurl.com/y2gbbofy (Photo Credit: Abaca Press/Reuters) www.trunews.com