Judge Blasts DeJoy’s ‘Intentional’ Bid to Disrupt Election
DeJoy Ordered to Halt USPS Changes States Say Will Hurt Election
(Bloomberg) -- The judge who ordered a nationwide halt to operational changes at the U.S. Postal Service said it was “easy to conclude” that the effort by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was intended to disrupt and challenge the legitimacy of the upcoming election.
“At the heart of DeJoy’s and the Postal Service’s actions is voter disenfranchisement,” U.S. District Court Chief Judge Stanley A. Bastian said in a ruling Thursday in Yakima, Washington. “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.”
The injunction -- the first issued over the USPS changes -- comes as state election officials continue to urge voters to request absentee ballots as soon as possible in light of reports of widespread USPS operational delays. Democrats and Republicans are also battling in courts across the U.S. over deadlines for accepting mail-in ballots, with some arguing the USPS delays justify extending deadlines to several days after Election Day.
The ruling bars the USPS from instructing carriers to leave mail behind for processing or later delivery. It also forces the USPS to stop telling mail carriers or delivery truck drivers to leave at set times “regardless of whether the mail is actually ready.”
More than a dozen states sought the injunction in Washington, arguing that DeJoy, a longtime Republican donor, implemented the changes to delay delivery of ballots and undermine confidence in election results.
The ruling Thursday singled out President Donald Trump’s “highly partisan” tweets about the USPS and mail-in voting, tying his constant criticism to the postal agency’s disruptive changes. And the judge balked at the USPS’s “remarkable” claim in court that there hasn’t been a change in the treatment of election mail.
“If there ever were a mandate for the need of a nationwide injunction, it is this case,” the judge wrote.
Lee Moak, Election Mail Committee Chair at the USPS Board of Governors, rejected the judge’s finding.
“Any suggestion that there is a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service is completely and utterly without merit,” he said.
But the judge pointed to the timing of DeJoy’s “transformational” and long-lasting changes during a global pandemic and in the middle of a fraught election. The judge also cited lawsuits filed by by the Republican National Committee and Trump’s re-election campaign that aimed to block state efforts to bypass the Postal Service by using ballot drop boxes.
Bastian said the argument that the changes are part of an “intentional effort” to undermine the election are further backed by the fact that 72% of the decommissioned high speed mail sorting machines that were located in counties where Hillary Clinton got the most votes in 2016.
DeJoy had previously assured Congress that he would halt some of the major changes he put in motion at the USPS until after the Nov. 3 election to “avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail.” But that was little comfort to Democratic state officials who said a court order was necessary to prevent further damage to USPS services and efficiency.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, whose state joined the Washington suit, said the USPS is “being used as a tool of partisan politics.”
The judge “found it very persuasive that it was a deliberate and intentional attempt to undermine the Postal Service and to stop it from delivering mail in a timely manner,” he said.
USPS spokesperson Dave Partenheimer said the postal service is exploring its legal options.
“There should be no doubt that the Postal Service is ready and committed to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives,” he said. “Our number one priority is to deliver election mail on-time.”
During a hearing earlier Thursday, the judge interrupted a presentation by the states to point out that he’d personally received a post card from the USPS saying there would likely be delays with mail-in voting.
“Can the court take judicial notice that I’m personally being warned by the defendant that my ballots may be delayed, my family’s ballots may be delayed?” Bastian asked.
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