Lawyers for the U.S. Postal Service were in court Thursday to defend accusations that service cuts are slowing down the mail and threatening the integrity of the presidential election.
The latest hearing on the issue took place in federal court in Philadelphia, where the attorneys general from six states and the District of Columbia have sued.
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Lawyers for the U.S. Postal Service were in court Thursday to defend accusations that service cuts are slowing down the mail and threatening the integrity of the presidential election.
“There was a sharp dip in early July that hasn’t rebounded to where it was, even today,” Deputy Attorney General Aimee D. Thomson of Pennsylvania argued.
Lawyers for the Postal Service say headquarters never ordered a slowdown or overtime ban. However, they conceded in court that local postal managers may have misconstrued the guidance from Washington and thought the stated goal of reducing overtime was actually a mandate.
U.S. District Judge Gerald A. McHugh Jr. did not immediately rule.
The headline on this story has been corrected to note that the post office defended accusations that cuts threaten presidential election; it did not say cuts threaten the election.
FILE - In this May 5, 2020, file photo, absentee ballots to be counted are moved at City Hall in Garden City, Mich. Data obtained by The Associated Press shows Postal Service districts across the nation are missing the agency’s own standards for on-time delivery as millions of Americans prepare to vote by mail. (AP PhotoPaul Sancya, File)
They argue that on-time delivery dropped sharply in July and has not fully rebounded as the nation battles a pandemic and prepares for an election that could hinge on mail-in ballots.
FILE - In this Nov. 26, 2019 file photo, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, center, speaks at a news conference at Muhlenberg High School in Reading, Pa. Officials from six states and the District of Columbia are in court Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020, to ask a federal judge to halt alleged slowdowns at the U.S. Postal Service that they say threaten the upcoming presidential election (AP PhotoMatt Rourke, File)
“There was a sharp dip in early July that hasn’t rebounded to where it was, even today,” Deputy Attorney General Aimee D. Thomson of Pennsylvania argued.
Judges in Washington state and New York have issued emergency orders this month in similar cases. The others states involved in Thursday's hearing are California, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts and North Carolina.
Thomson said the evidence shows a slowdown order came from headquarters this summer after Postmaster General Louis DeJoy took over the service.
FILE - In this Aug. 24, 2020 file photo, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testifies during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the Postal Service on Capitol Hill in Washington. Officials from six states and the District of Columbia are in court Thursday, Sept. 24, to ask a federal judge to halt alleged slowdowns at the U.S. Postal Service that they say threaten the upcoming presidential election(Tom WilliamsPool via AP, File)
Lawyers for the Postal Service say headquarters never ordered a slowdown or overtime ban. However, they conceded in court that local postal managers may have misconstrued the guidance from Washington and thought the stated goal of reducing overtime was actually a mandate.
The state officials said that on-time delivery of first-class mail fell 10% from July to August, aggravating and even endangering customers who rely on mail delivery for food, medications and other essentials.
They said the cuts also threaten the integrity of the upcoming election, given the expected widespread of mail-in ballots across the country.
FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020, file photo, a forklift operator loads absentee ballots for mailing at the Wake County Board of Elections as preparations for the upcoming election are ongoing in Raleigh, N.C. Data obtained by The Associated Press shows Postal Service districts across the nation are missing the agency’s own standards for on-time delivery as millions of Americans prepare to vote by mail. (AP PhotoGerry Broome, File)
U.S. District Judge Gerald A. McHugh Jr. did not immediately rule.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan largely sided with several people across the country, including candidates for public office, who claimed that President Donald Trump, the Postal Service and the new postmaster general were endangering election mail.
And last week, U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, ordered an end to postal practices nationwide that slowed mail delivery since July, saying 14 states had made a “strong showing” that the Trump administration was using the Postal Service “as a tool in partisan politics.”
FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020, file photo, a person drops applications for mail-in-ballots into a mailbox in Omaha, Neb. Data obtained by The Associated Press shows Postal Service districts across the nation are missing the agency’s own standards for on-time delivery as millions of Americans prepare to vote by mail. (AP PhotoNati Harnik, File)
The headline on this story has been corrected to note that the post office defended accusations that cuts threaten presidential election; it did not say cuts threaten the election.
FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020, file photo, stacks of ballot envelopes waiting to be mailed are seen at the Wake County Board of Elections in Raleigh, N.C. Data obtained by The Associated Press shows Postal Service districts across the nation are missing the agency’s own standards for on-time delivery as millions of Americans prepare to vote by mail. (AP PhotoGerry Broome, File)
FILE - In this May 5, 2020, file photo, absentee ballots to be counted are moved at City Hall in Garden City, Mich. Data obtained by The Associated Press shows Postal Service districts across the nation are missing the agency’s own standards for on-time delivery as millions of Americans prepare to vote by mail. (AP PhotoPaul Sancya, File)