POSTAL SERVICE SUSPENDS CHANGES

Policy changes by the postmaster general prompted allegations that the Trump administration was trying to disenfranchise voters before the 2020 election. According to the New York Times, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, facing intense backlash over cost-cutting moves that Democrats, state attorney general and civil rights groups warn could jeopardize mail-in voting, said that the Postal Service would suspend those operational changes until after the 2020 election. The measures, which included eliminating overtime for mail carriers, reducing post office hours and removing postal boxes, have been faulted for slowing mail delivery and criticized as an attempt to disenfranchise voters seeking to vote safely during the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. DeJoy, a major donor to President Trump, who was tapped in may to run the Postal Service, said in a statement that “ to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail” he was suspending changes “that have been raised as areas of concern as the nation prepares to hold an election in the midst of a devastating pandemic.” Mr. DeJoy said retail hours at the post office would not change, no mail processing facilities would be closed, and overtime would continue to be approved “as needed.” It was unclear, however, whether the agency would reverse measures already put in place across the country that union officials and workers say have inflicted deep damage to the Postal Service. That includes the removal of hundreds of mail-sorting machines, according to a June 17 letter sent from the Postal Service to the American Postal Workers Union. Some of those machines have already been destroyed, union officials and workers said. The announcement came as lawmakers summoned Mr. DeJoy to testify before the House and the Senate and as at least 20 state attorneys general said they would file lawsuits against the Trump administration over the postal changes. Those lawsuits, which are being led by Washington State and Pennsylvania, seek to reverse Mr. DeJoy’s changes, which they called “unlawful.” Lawmakers in both parties and voting rights advocates have accused Mr. DeJoy, a longtime transportation and logistics executive, of making policy changes that jeopardize not only voters’ ability to cast their ballots safely in the general election, but also the delivery of important medicines, paychecks and documents. Mr. DeJoy’s continuing financial ties to companies that stand to benefit from his work at the Postal Service have also prompted concerns from lawmakers.