On Saturday morning, dozens of protestors associated with activist group Shut Down DC congregated outside the Washington, D.C. home of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, and staged a “noise demonstration” amid accusations that he is intentionally sabotaging mail-in voting for the general election.
DeJoy, a top Republican and Trump campaign donor, was appointed in May. Since then, he has started a significant restructuring of the Postal Service. His moves include a hiring freeze and other budget cuts that postal workers claim have curbed their ability to deliver the mail effectively.
During the early morning noise demonstration, protestors clanged pots and rang airhorns in what they referred to as a “wake up call” for DeJoy to defend the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
Some protesters even loaded bogus absentee ballots and letters into DeJoy’s apartment door.
The USPS has recently sent warning letters about mail-in voting to 46 states that said that it could not assure that all mail-in ballots cast for the November election would arrive in time to be counted.
The examination of DeJoy’s operational activities further increased Thursday after President Donald Trump appeared to imply that he was opposed to funding the Postal Service partially because it would make it more difficult for Americans to vote by mail.
“They need that money in order to have the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” Trump said in an interview on Fox Business Network. “Now, if we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money. That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting. They just can’t have it.”
Shut Down DC released a statement: “DeJoy has fired or reassigned much of the existing USPS leadership and ordered the removal of mail sorting machines that are fundamental to the functioning of the postal service. Meanwhile, mail delivery is slowing down under other decisions made by DeJoy, such as eliminating overtime for postal workers.”
