Unreliable messengers: The United States Postal Service (UPSP)
Photo: J. Scott Applewhite / APThe name Louis DeJoy means few Americans. He is one of the most generous donors of the US Republicans. Since 2019, he has raked in nearly $ 1.5 million to the party and its candidates, especially Donald Trump. The highest single sum was received by the President's Election Committee in February: $ 210,600.
Eleven weeks later, Trump made him the new head of the United States Postal Service (USPS), the US state postal service.
Under Trump, major donors like to become ministers (Steven Mnuchin), ambassadors (Woody Johnson) - or Postmaster General, as the office has been called since 1775, when the US founding father Benjamin Franklin commanded the first colonial stagecoaches.
Large donor with a delicate job: US post manager Louis DeJoy
Photo: Kim Walker / APWith Louis DeJoy there is obviously more to it than the usual nepotism. Because in the presidential and congressional elections this year, the Post suddenly plays a central role: Thanks to the corona crisis, millions of Americans could vote by postal vote.
Trump discredits the post, DeJoy slows down delivery
But instead of preparing the agency, which has long been overburdened, for this enormous challenge, DeJoy has so far only weakened it further, for example by prohibiting the postman from working overtime and thus slowing down delivery.
Critics believe that DeJoy is doing this at the behest of Trump, who is currently trying several tricks to improve his chances in the election. For example, the postal vote: Trump would like to ban it entirely because he believes that a higher turnout will benefit the Democrats.
Since he cannot do that so easily, he discredits the postal vote as "corrupt" and "fraudulent" on a daily basis, also in order to be able to contest a possible election defeat later. However, there is no evidence of large-scale postal voting fraud; Trump himself has already voted several times via the USPS. His top advisors have already made use of it.
Anyone who claims that this is a fraudulent process, says Mark Dimondstein, head of the US postal union APWU, the SPIEGEL, "is a fraud himself, because that is simply not true."
Since 1775: The US Post is past its good times
Photo: LUCY NICHOLSON / REUTERSThe fact that the post office of all things could become a decisive factor in the already controversial US election is the result of a historical mismanagement that began long before Trump's presidency. Fifteen years ago the USPS was still making billions in profits. But in 2006, with a Republican majority, Congress passed a "reform law" that has since forced the Post to pay astronomical pension costs. The goal: bleeding the USPS to the point that it has to be privatized.
The USPS balance sheet quickly collapsed - from $ 1.6 billion in profit (2005) to $ 5.3 billion in loss (2007). In the same year, the iPhone made its debut, which further reduced mail. The recession did its part.
USPS in a desolate state
Last year, the US Postal Service crunched $ 71.5 billion and carried nearly $ 161 billion in debt, most of it for pension bills. "The USPS 's financial position is unsustainable," the US Court of Auditors ruled in late 2019. And then came the pandemic.
Lost letters, delayed bills, long queues in fewer and fewer post offices - the desolate state of the USPS is almost legendary. In some places, the postmen simply throw the mail into the front gardens for fear of the corona virus. With more than 633,000 employees, the company remains the third largest US employer.
With DeJoy, Trump now has a supporter in the most important position in the company - and could thus influence the work of the USPS. The Post's business model was "broken", DeJoy declared when he took office. "We cannot currently offset our costs with the available financial sources." The authority is facing a "liquidity crisis".
DeJoy is the first U.S. post chief in two decades who didn't grow up with the post. The North Carolina businessman earned hundreds of millions of dollars with a transportation company that merged in 2014 with the logistics multinational XPO, a contract partner of the USPS. DeJoy was known as a "job killer"; the company had to pay fines for labor law violations.
Most recently, DeJoy was chief financial officer of the - now largely canceled - Republican electoral party conference. His wife Aldona Wos was US Ambassador to Estonia from 2004 to 2006; Trump has nominated her as the new ambassador to Canada.
"The integrity of the election is at risk"
As a first USPS official act, DeJoy ordered stricter overtime rules for postmen and reduced uptime for sorting machines. These measures could delay the delivery of the post for days. He increased the postage for postal ballot papers from 20 to 55 cents. And he turned all USPS management upside down by transferring nearly two dozen long-time heads of department.
Traditional service bled to death: US postman in California
Photo: JUSTIN SULLIVAN / AFPThe consequences are already being felt across the country. According to US media reports, even express mail recently took a day or two longer than before. Aside from the fact that many Americans get their medication in the mail, this bodes well for the choice. "I'm dreading the election season under the new procedures," said Lori Cash, APWU chief in western New York, the Washington Post.
If the dismantling of the USPS continues in this way, there is a risk that "votes will not be counted" or "delivered late," wrote 131 Democrats in an open letter. "The integrity of the election is at risk."
Lost postal voting documents could be the deciding factor, especially in tight swing states. Already in the primaries in Wisconsin in April, which were held despite the corona lockdown, 2,659 voting cards arrived too late and were no longer counted.
DeJoy denies being politically compliant to Trump. This allegation was "completely out of place," said USPS spokesman David Partenheimer. When the Democrats called for the withdrawal of his recent actions on Wednesday, a heated argument broke out with DeJoy in the US Capitol. "The elections are sacred," thundered Senator Chuck Schumer.
On September 17, DeJoy is due to stand on the House Control Committee. By then, the first US state will have already sent its postal ballot papers. It is DeJoy's home state of North Carolina.
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