Dear John,

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is nearly four years into his 10-year plan to privatize the U.S. Postal Service. So far he is right on his terrible target, successfully slowing the mail, raising prices, closing sorting centers, and eliminating thousands of jobs.

Several U.S. Senators, alarmed at how DeJoy’s delays could harm vote-by-mail efforts in their states, are doing their best to hold DeJoy accountable.

Senator Peter Welch notes that small towns in Colorado have been waiting weeks and months to receive mail. Citizens told him their Christmas cards finally started arriving in February. Similar delays have been seen for driver’s licenses, disability payments, prescriptions, and, significantly in this election year: vote-by-mail election ballots.

In Nevada, Senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez-Masto note that the plan to divert over 100,000 ballots from Nevada to California and back again to Nevada before counting them is “extremely concerning to election officials in the state.”

So far, DeJoy has given no response to these urgent concerns.

We cannot accept this lack of response from the Postmaster General. It’s time for the USPS Inspector General, USPS Board of Governors, and the Postal Regulatory Commission to step in, and protect vote by mail immediately. Click here to send a pre-written letter, or customize it to make it your own.

Senator Gary Peters, chair of the Senate committee that oversees the USPS, recently demanded answers from DeJoy, concerned that the closing of sorting centers and other consolidations would cause “delayed delivery of election mail.”

Senator Bernie Sanders and 20 other senators have joined a letter to protest that, due to DeJoy’s consolidations, “mail processing will move hundreds of miles to a regional facility… and in some cases, to another state entirely.” The potential resulting delays dovetail with Republican attempts to cast doubt on the validity of vote by mail, and even of elections themselves.

In 2020, nearly half of all votes were cast by mail. The timely delivery of mail is absolutely crucial to protect the integrity of the upcoming 2024 election. Yet DeJoy has not given any indication of how his diminished Post Office will ensure that vote by mail ballots will be handled without any of his signature “DeJoy Delays.”

We have not yet seen how the continued shrinking of the post office under DeJoy will affect the processing of mail-in votes. But DeJoymust come forward with his plans to protect the validity of this election.

We need to know how the Postal Service will ensure that 2024 vote-by-mail ballots are handled promptly and with full accountability. Send your message now!

Thank you for working to preserve election integrity, and our essential right to vote.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action