Federal and state courts are acting quickly to protect November's election and ensure that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) does its job of delivering election materials on time and without putting its thumb on the scale for Donald Trump. Thursday brought a number of key decisions and a direct confrontation from secretaries of state to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, in which the embattled official apologized for acting without consulting them and sending out election information that was incorrect. A decision in a federal court in Washington State and a Pennsylvania court rounded out a jam-packed Thursday in Postal Service news.
The major development was an injunction handed down by U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian in Washington State to halt the operational changes he's imposed on the USPS. From the bench, Bastian said that DeJoy and Trump are “involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service” and said “this attack on the Postal Service is likely to irreparably harm the states’ ability to administer the 2020 general election.” In the 13-page preliminary injunction that followed, Bastian wrote “at the heart of DeJoy’s and the Postal Service’s actions is voter disenfranchisement,” citing Trump's statements about withholding funds and “the actual impact of the changes on primary elections that resulted in uncounted ballots.” He continued that it wasn't a stretch of the imagination to conclude that the changes were “an intentional effort on the part of the current administration to disrupt and challenge the legitimacy of upcoming local, state and federal elections.”
He ordered that the changes DeJoy has made be halted, including his "trucks leave on time" policy that has accounted for most of the chaos in the agency and the delivery delays. Bastian called these changes a “Leave Mail Behind” policy and ordered them to stop. “Plaintiffs have made an extensive showing of irreparable harm that is caused and will be caused by the Postal Service’s ‘Leave Mail Behind’ policy and the Postal Service’s refusal to ensure that election mail will be treated as First Class mail to ensure timely delivery,” he wrote. He also halted the removal of sorting machines, a practice DeJoy told Congress last month that he was going to suspend—a promise Bastian found lacking. He noted that 72% of the machines were removed from facilities in counties that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. “DeJoy’s actions fly in the face of Congress’s intent to insulate the management of the Postal Service from partisan politics and political influence and acknowledgement that free and fair elections depend on a reliable mail service,” Bastian wrote.
He enjoined the USPS from implementing or enforcing any “change in the nature of postal services which will generally affect service on a nationwide or substantially nationwide basis” without first obtaining an advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission. Any request to “reconnect or replace any decommissioned or removed sorting machine(s)” must be directed through the court for approval, Bastian ordered, unless the USPS has already approved it. The Postal Service responded via spokesman Dave Partenheimer that “while we are exploring our legal options, there should be no doubt that the Postal Service is ready and committed to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives. Our number one priority is to deliver election mail on-time.”
In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court issued rulings to secure that state's vote-by-mail and make it easier to access for the state's voters. The court extended the deadline for the return of ballots, allowed ballot drop boxes, and took the Green Party's candidate off the presidential race on the ballot. The Trump campaign had sued the state to prevent the expansion of mail-in voting and the use of ballot drop boxes.
While all that was happening, DeJoy was privately groveling in a Zoom conference with secretaries of state over the nationwide postcard mailing he had sent out about mail-in ballots that gave erroneous information for many states. He failed to consult with the various states about their requirements and deadlines, causing confusion for many voters, which led to accusations that he and his team were deliberately undermining the process by providing misinformation. DeJoy apologized, according to participants on the call. He said the postcards were an effort “to encourage voters to inform themselves on how to vote by mail effectively,” but conceded that he had failed to “give you a heads-up to see the mailer in advance.” He promised: “We will do better next time.“
DeJoy told the participants that he disagreed with Trump's attacks on the USPS and its ability to deliver mail ballots, as well Attorney General William Barr's assertion that postal workers could be bribed to commit election fraud. He apparently fell all over himself to assure the state officials that he would work with them in the future to ensure the accuracy of mailings. “There seems to be, coming from DeJoy, the confirmation they are going to do everything they can to ensure the delivery and timeliness of all mailed ballots—that standards are going to be followed so that all of that happens—and in the future they will try to run things by election officials before public information is placed out,” Washington, D.C. Board of Elections Executive Director Alice Miller told The Washington Post.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who had pressed DeJoy on the call on his “specific plan to address the misinformation coming from the administration” about voting by mail, remained cautiously skeptical. She said it was “very noteworthy that he says he’s publicly in disagreement with the president,” but she isn't convinced. “I also think actions speak louder than words.“
