The post office (here in Philadelphia) is important to postal voters in the United States - and is under fire
Photo: RACHEL WISNIEWSKI / REUTERSDue to delays at the post office, concerns about the impairment of postal voting are growing in the USA - now the US Democrats in Congress are putting pressure on the head there. The House Control Committee scheduled a hearing on Sunday August 24th for Louis DeJoy, who has held the post of Postmaster General since May.
There are "alarming" revelations about the scope and severity of operational changes that have not been coordinated with Congress, the Postal Inspectorate or the Association of Governors, said Democratic Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney to DeJoy in a letter.
The Post is likely to play a major role in the US presidential election on November 3 because of the corona pandemic. Most states are expecting significantly more postal voters. Many states have made it easier to apply for voting by mail.
The struggling group has already warned that it cannot guarantee that postal votes cast at short notice will be delivered in time to be counted. At the same time, internal documents became known, according to which the Post is currently dismantling numerous letter sorting machines.
US President Donald Trump is against widespread postal voting and declares almost every day without providing evidence that the risk of counterfeiting is very high. Because of his repeated attacks, the Republican is accused of sowing doubts about the security of the vote. The Democrats are working to ensure that as many voters as possible can vote by postal vote because of the pandemic.
House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi tweeted that Trump was manipulating the Post to secure his re-election on November 3rd. DeJoy acted like an accomplice of Trump in these efforts, said the Democrat.
Trump defended DeJoy on Saturday and said that he just wanted to make the post "great" again after it had lost "billions of dollars" for decades.
Icon: The mirrorkfr / dpa