Changes by Trump donor heading USPS may "disenfranchise voters": former top Postal Service official

"Making these changes this close to an election is a high-risk proposition,” Ronald Stroman says

Published August 14, 2020 12:43PM (EDT)

Donald Trump | mail in ballot (Getty Images/Salon)
Donald Trump | mail in ballot (Getty Images/Salon)

This article originally appeared on Raw Story

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A former top United States Postal Service official is warning that Louis DeJoy, the new postmaster general who is also a Trump donor and ally, is implementing changes at the agency could "disenfranchise" voters, according to The Guardian.

"Amid reports of significant mail delays, Ronald Stroman, who stepped down earlier this year as the second in command at USPS, said he was concerned about the speed and timing of changes that appeared to be implemented after Louis DeJoy, the new postmaster general, took office in June," The Guardian reports. "USPS faces a financial crisis and every postmaster general is interested in cost savings and efficiency, Stroman said, but the question was how to balance those changes with the public's needs."

Stroman said that his concern is not only because the actions are taking place during a pandemic, "but a couple of months before an election with enormous consequences."

"If you can't right the ship, if you can't correct these fast enough, the consequence is not just, OK, people don't get their mail, it's that you disenfranchise people . . . Making these changes this close to an election is a high-risk proposition," he said.

While some mail delays could have been due to worker shortages because of the pandemic, concern increased when DeJoy took over the agency and began prohibiting overtime and ordering postal workers to leave mail behind at processing plants if it would cause them to leave late.

Read the full report over at The Guardian.


By Sky Palma

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Donald Trump Louis Dejoy Politics Usps