Judge Thwarts Trump Again & Rules To Strengthen USPS Pre-Election

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Donald Trump’s willingness to do anything to win is matched only by those willing to help him win, which became obvious as Louis Dejoy, a prominent Trump donor who now serves as the postmaster general, implemented sweeping changes to the USPS ahead of a presidential election that will include an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots as a result of COVID-19.

Despite the more than 200,000 deaths from the virus and the continued spread across the country, Trump and his friends have cast conspiracy theories about mail-in voting to convince supporters that it will be rife with fraud (there is no evidence to support this). Dejoy instituted changes such as leaving mail behind rather than wait for it to be sorted, cutting all overtime for postal workers, and even removing sorting machines. But the change that was brought in front of the court this week was the change in status of election mail to standard mail rather than first-class or priority.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero of New York heard the case and issued a ruling on Monday. According to The Associated Press:

‘The U.S. Postal Service must live up to its responsibilities to timely process election mail by treating it as a priority, a New York judge ordered on Monday, adding that the agency’s workers should be permitted to make extra deliveries and work overtime near the November presidential election.

‘The written decision by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero came after several individuals, including candidates for public office, sued. They said President Donald Trump, the postal service and its new postmaster general were endangering election mail.’

U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington ruled that the “leave behind” policy implemented by Dejoy could not stand, so the New York decision this week has undercut many of the plans that would have caused such upheaval in the 2020 elections. Judge Marrero told both sides that they had until Friday to settle the matter of election mail being treated as priority mail in a way that would adhere to his findings.

‘If they fail, Marrero said he’ll impose an order that ensures postal workers can make late and extra trips as well as work overtime in late October and early November.

‘“The right to vote is too vital a value in our democracy to be left in a state of suspense in the minds of voters weeks before a presidential election, raising doubts as to whether their votes will ultimately be counted,” Marrero said. He ruled after conducting a hearing on Wednesday.’

Although Judge Marrero did not address the clear political divide between those attempting to keep the mail running at election time and those working against it, he did acknowledge the chaos the changes at the USPS were likely to make during the upcoming election season. He wrote that:

‘Conflicting, vague, and ambivalent managerial signals could also sow substantial doubt about whether the USPS is up to the task, whether it possesses the institutional will power and commitment to its historical mission, and so to handle the exceptional burden associated with a profoundly critical task in our democratic system, that of collecting and delivering election mail a few weeks from now.’