US elections: Obama criticizes Trump in dispute over postal elections

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The former with the possibly new President: Barack Obama (right) and the Democratic candidate-nominee Joe Biden

Former US President Barack Obama has accused his successor Donald Trump of deliberately weakening the US Postal Service (USPS) in the dispute over postal votes. The US Democrat tweeted that everyone - including seniors, veterans and small businesses - was dependent on the post. "They must not become collateral damage to a government that is more concerned with suppressing votes than suppressing a virus," he wrote.

Ahead of the presidential election in November, a dispute is raging in the US over postal votes, in which the state post has increasingly come into focus. Trump has repeatedly sharply criticized postal elections and criticized them as particularly prone to fraud, although experts disagree. According to estimates, more than twice as many people could vote by post this year because of the corona pandemic in order to avoid going to the polling station.

Critics accuse Trump of deliberately weakening the Post

Apparently, Trump fears that the opposition Democrats could benefit from an expansion of postal votes. Critics are now accusing the Republican of deliberately weakening the post office in order to torpedo postal votes. Delays in sending ballot papers to voters and returning them to electoral authorities could result in millions of votes being ignored.

Trump recently caused outrage with interview statements about financial aid for the Post. With a view to demands from the Democrats to send billions in aid to the Post as part of a new Corona aid package, Trump said: "You need this money to make the Post work, so that it can handle all the millions of ballot papers. But if they don't then there cannot be general postal votes because they are not equipped for it. "

This was interpreted by the president in such a way that he wanted to block financial aid for the post office so that the postal votes could not be extended. "Typical Trump," said Democratic challenger-designate Joe Biden. "He doesn't want elections." In other statements, however, the president indicated a willingness to compromise.

Trump's henchman as the post manager

In particular, there is suspicion that Trump made the conservative businessman and important fundraiser Louis DeJoy head of the post in the spring. Critics refer to him as the president's henchman, who is supposed to weaken the mail, which has been financially troubled for some time, and to slow down the delivery of letters.

The corona pandemic poses major challenges for the organizers of the presidential election anyway. The authorities are ill-prepared for a massive surge in postal votes. Obama therefore called on voters to cast their votes as early as possible.

Critics accuse Trump of wanting to undermine the overall credibility of the elections with his attacks on postal votes - in order to be able to cast doubt on the election result in the event of a defeat. In surveys, the incumbent, who has been criticized for dealing with the corona crisis and the Black Lives Matter protests, is currently behind Biden.

hba / dpa