Every day since Postmaster General Louis DeJoy claimed on Tuesday that he would suspend the policies that have hamstrung mail delivery has brought fresh news proving his statement was nothing more than a cheap PR stunt.
After news surfaced Wednesday that U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employees were still actively dismantling mail sorting machines, USPS headquarters followed up with an edict forbidding postal workers across the country from reassembling and reconnecting those sorting machines, according to VICE.
"Please message out to your respective Maintenance Managers tonight. They are not to reconnect / reinstall machines that have previously been disconnected without approval from HQ Maintenance, no matter what direction they are getting from their plant manager," wrote Kevin Couch, director of maintenance operations, in an email. "Please have them flow that request through you then on to me for a direction."
VICE reports the email was forwarded to individual maintenance managers nationwide with a single sentence: "We are not to reconnect any machines that have previously been disconnected."
On Wednesday alone, reporters found evidence of sorting machines in Iowa and Michigan that were either recently dismantled or were being actively dismantled at that time. It's impossible to tell how many other mail sorting machines were in the process of being incapacitated, not to mention how many more will be. The sorting machines serve as critical infrastructure to help postal workers process high volumes of mail.
The high-level emails, which were originally obtained by Motherboard, served as further evidence that DeJoy has no intention of ending his sabotage of mail balloting ahead of the election, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said following a phone call with him.
Voters in some states such as Alaska are also finding out that postal workers have been prohibited from serving as witnesses to certify mail-in ballots, according to a new rule change implemented over the summer.
