With America still confirming close to 60,000 new COVID-19 infections every day, many fear traditional polling booths will act like petri-dishes.
Wary voters, especially those with underlying conditions, have been turning to absentee ballots in droves.
In preparation, one could reasonably expect the White House would be doing everything it can to shore up the electoral system and the US Postal Service that will be so crucial in making it work.
But it seems the President is doing the opposite.
The Trump administration’s newly appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is a major Republican donor and a close ally of Trump.
In his first public comments last Friday, Dejoy laid out a “transformational process” to “change and improve” the US Postal Service.
He may have a worthy long-term plan to do just that, but right now, when getting mail through on time has never been more important, it’s causing significant disruptions.
No fewer than 23 USPS executives have been displaced or reassigned.
There’s a hiring freeze, a ban on overtime and additional delivery runs have been stopped.
There are claims mail sorting equipment has been removed with letters already beginning to pile up in post offices.
As early as March, Democrats were pushing to include additional funding for voting by mail in a Coronavirus stimulus bill.
At that time, Trump openly stated his resistance was political, claiming his opponents were seeking “levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
He quickly shifted tack, repeatedly warning about the risk of “voter fraud” and a “rigged election” should there be a surge in mail-in votes.
Some election experts have suggested mail-in voting is more susceptible to fraud than voting in person, but studies have shown all forms of voter fraud are extremely rare in America.
Democrats are still pushing for $US3.5 billion for universal mail-in voting, along with a $25 billion boost for the Postal Service. The President’s Republican allies are still refusing to allow it.
Read more here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-14/donald-trump-hampers-us-postal-service-2020-election-coronavirus/12554960
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