In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Gary Peters today joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss his efforts to hold Trump’s U.S. Postmaster General accountable for reported delays in mail service, protect vote by mail and the United State Postal Service, and ensure that Michigan’s primary election is safe and accessible for Michiganders across the state. Last week, Gary and his colleagues pressed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for answers about recent mail complaints and delays.
On Holding Trump’s U.S. Postmaster General Accountable On Reported Postal Service Delays:
- Well, we’re very concerned about a slowdown of the mail. What we’re seeing from the Postmaster General, the Trump appointed Postmaster General, is that there are a number of procedures that are being put in place, presumably to save money. But the impact has been to slow down mail delivery.
- We’re hearing from folks in the Postal Service that there isn’t over time, processing centers are shut down, early mail is just left off to the side. And that’s certainly not part of the ethos of the Postal Service, which is they work hard every single day to make sure the mail gets out every day. But what we’re seeing as a result of some of these changes and these changes are pretty broad across the state of Michigan, and in the process, mail is slowing down.
- I think there’s two reasons for it, one, the Trump administration does not like the postal service – they would like to privatize the Postal Service. They believe if they slow down delivery, that will get people upset about the Postal Service. But they also know that slowing down the mail will have a significant impact on a state that just moved to no-reason absentee voting, which means folks can vote by mail by just calling their clerk. You heard the previous report in the city of Detroit, but it’s all across the state of Michigan. We’ve already had more requests for absentee ballots in the state of Michigan than the entire vote total back in 2016. And slowing down the mail and losing confidence in the mail could be a part of what the Trump administration is doing right now.
On Protecting Postal Service And Vote By Mail:
- I’m the Ranking Member on Senate Homeland Security Government Affairs, we’re responsible for overseeing the Postal Service. The stories that I’m hearing are very troublesome and are very concerning. We have to get to the facts, although I think it’s broader than just vote by mail.
- I think there’s also an effort to make it the business model of the Postal Service more difficult and hope that they can eventually privatize. That’s really the goal of the Trump administration, I think they’ve been very clear – President Trump clearly does not like the Postal Service.
- Attempts that we have made through COVID packages to make sure the Postal Service can continue to provide on time delivery, not just the ballots, but also critical medicines and other kinds of mail that needs to be delivered to folks, particularly in rural areas – this administration has not been helpful.
- So we’ve got to make sure we’re doing what we can to have a robust, vibrant Postal Service, something that this country has relied on for over 240 years. And it’s really being challenged. We have a Trump administration that’s creating even greater challenges and certainly that could very well manifest itself during a vote by mail process.
On Ensuring Voting The Michigan Primary Is Safe And Accessible:
- The Secretary of State has put in a number of procedures to keep people separated, make sure folks have masks, to make sure there are sanitizers that’s available. So certainly folks are encouraged to vote by mail, request that absentee ballot and we’re seeing huge numbers do that. But the Secretary of State and clerks across the state are committed to have a safe place to vote in person.
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