Postal problems persist. (But your mail-in ballot is probably safe.)

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The Washington Post

News, True Crime, Politics

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🗓️ 20 August 2020

⏱️ 24 minutes

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Summary

President Trump’s rhetoric about the Postal Service has grown bolder. He’s said that if he stops the Democrats from providing emergency funding to the Postal Service, it’s harder for them to process a surge in mail-in ballots. And according to Trump himself, he wants less mail-in voting, because he thinks too much vote by mail may cost him the election.

Meanwhile, a new postmaster general has taken over the agency. Louis DeJoy, previously a logistics executive, was named to head the Postal Service in May, He’s also a major Republican donor.

In his short time in the new role, DeJoy has upended the mail system. He has shaken up USPS leadership, ordered the removal of hundreds of high-speed mail-sorting machines, eliminated overtime hours for delivery workers and banned them from making extra trips for on-time delivery.

The cumulative effect of Trump’s words and mail delivery slowdowns caused by DeJoy’s changes left many Americans uneasy about the ability of the Postal Service to deliver mail-in ballots effectively this fall.

Eventually, public pressure and support for the Postal Service led DeJoy on Tuesday to announce the agency will not continue the controversial changes that had already been underway at the organization until after the November election.

On this episode of the“Can He Do That?” podcast, reporter Jacob Bogage answers key questions: Are Postal Service operations are no longer in jeopardy? Can the agency ensure all mail-in ballots can get where they need to go? And, most critically, has irreparable damage been done to America’s faith in our electoral system?

Transcript

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0:00.0	A few months back in April, I talked to Jacob Bowgey, a business reporter here at the
0:06.6	Washington Post, about a hold-up in Congress over some funding for the US Postal Service.
0:13.1	At the time, our team tossed around that idea for an episode, and at first we were a little
0:17.9	skeptical.
0:19.2	Does this story pack enough punch?
0:21.1	Do Americans really care about what's happening at the Postal Service?
0:24.2	I even turned to my husband to figure out if he'd listened to 30 minutes about the American
0:28.6	mail delivery system and the money it needs to function.
0:31.9	His response?
0:32.9	Meh.
0:34.5	But as our team talked about it more, we realized how many questions we had about the
0:39.1	president's potential power over this government agency, and how much the Postal Service's effectiveness
0:45.2	might matter come November.
0:47.9	Before long, the story, its implications, and its incredible importance became clear.
0:53.4	Now, several months later, that story hasn't gone away.
0:58.5	Did you ever think your beat covering the Post Office would garner so much attention?
1:02.6	No, I never did.
1:04.8	It's...
1:05.8	I talked to sources some time to say, how do you do this 52 weeks a year?
1:13.0	They all have very different answers.
1:15.3	Since April, President Trump's rhetoric about the Postal Service has become more direct.
1:19.6	He said that if he stops the Democrats from providing emergency funding to the Postal
	...

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