US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a congressional testimony on Friday that Americans should be allowed to vote by mail in the upcoming November election due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and the Postal Service will support their right to vote via the Postal Service
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st August, 2020) US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a congressional testimony on Friday that Americans should be allowed to vote by mail in the upcoming November election due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and the Postal Service will support their right to vote via the Postal Service.
"I think the American public should be able to vote by mail and the Postal Service will support this. So, I guess that's a yes," DeJoy told a US Senate hearing when asked if he agreed to such a process.
DeJoy has come under heavy criticism by Democrats for announcing the reduction of overtime for postal workers and plans to take mail-sorting machines out of service. Consequently, the Postal Service warned that voters in 46 of the 50 US states may be disenfranchised because it could not deliver mailed ballots in time to meet counting deadlines.
Tens of millions of Americans are expected to vote by mail this year because of fears of being potentially infected with the novel coronavirus if they vote in-person.
The Trump administration and congressional Democrats have locked horns over the issue of mail-in ballots in the upcoming election. President Donald Trump has claimed that mail-in ballots pose a risk of widespread fraud, citing the botched New York congressional Primary race as an example. Trump has also said that the US Postal Service has been failing for decades and the planned reforms were meant to save it billions of Dollars.
However, following the Democrats' criticism of Trump's position, DeJoy announced a temporary pause in operational changes in the Postal Service and then said there would be no changes until the end of the vote counting process in the November election.
At Friday's hearing, DeJoy insisted the changes he had planned were non-political in nature and meant to restore financial health at the Postal Service, which has experienced over a decade of financial losses, including $11 billion so far in 2020 and $9 billion in 2019. He also said the Postal Service was adequately funded to continue operating until the election.
DeJoy pointed out that voting by mail was expected to account for less than 2 percent of all mail volume between mid-September and November 3.
"We will do everything we can to handle and deliver election mail in a manner consistent with the proven processes and procedures that we have relied on for years. Postal workers, from me to the union and leadership, [are] committed to having a successful election. And the insinuation [otherwise] is quite frankly outrageous," DeJoy said.
