Sound, fury and the U.S. mail

U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is scheduled to testify Friday before a Senate committee about the postal service and its ability to handle mailed ballots for the Nov. 3 election. His appearance is unlikely to sway anyone in this pitched political fight.

President Trump has been fanning the flames by insisting that the election results will be “rigged.” It's expected a record number of ballots cast by mail, driven by Americans' unease at voting in person during the coronavirus pandemic.

DeJoy is under fire for decommissioning hundreds of mail-sorting machines, reducing overtime and implementing other changes designed to save money for an agency that has struggled financially for years.

On Tuesday, DeJoy postponed further cost-saving measures until after the election. He said retail hours won't change, mail-processing equipment and collection boxes will stay in place, overtime will be approved as needed and no processing facilities will close. “The Postal Service is ready today to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives this fall,” DeJoy said.

Many Democrats say otherwise. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling members back to Washington to vote on a bill that would prohibit changes and direct $25 billion to the USPS.

U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn, D-Oklahoma City, said this week that “manufactured changes” are putting absentee voting at risk for the election, and that Congress must “take action and we have to take action now.” Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, meanwhile, notes that USPS distribution changes had been planned for years and that the agency has the money it needs to operate. Democrats are playing “a big political game,” he said.

Some see a conspiracy at play, given that DeJoy is a Trump donor. A few Democrats want an FBI investigation. However, DeJoy was named postmaster by the Postal Service Board of Governors, in a unanimous vote. “You can find valid operational reasons for the actions taken by the Postal Service so far,” Mike Plunkett, a former longtime USPS executive, told The Wall Street Journal. “In no way do I detect any criminality behind them …”

Critics of the president smell trouble in a letter sent in late July by USPS General Counsel Thomas Marshall, advising several states (including Oklahoma) that their deadlines for returning mailed ballots could be too tight to guarantee on-time delivery.

The Journal notes, however, that the letters were planned before DeJoy took over, and that Marshall sent similar advice to election officials in May.

Writing in The New York Times, Ruth Goldway, a former member of the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission who served under three presidents, said, “… I urge everyone to be calm. Don't fall prey to the alarmists on both sides of the issue.” Alas, it's probably too late for that.

Concerned about voting absentee? Consider returning your ballot promptly and not waiting until the last minute to request one. You would be doing yourself, and the postal service, a favor.