Several Colorado politicians are joining national Democrats in their call to bolster the U.S. Postal Service as President Donald Trump seeks to reduce its capacity.
The fight occurs as Trump has sought to undermine mail-in voting.
In an editorial published by The Colorado Sun, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said the president was using the pandemic as a way to “continue his assault on democracy.”
“The time is long past for my Republican colleagues to decide whether they love our democracy more than they fear Donald Trump,” Bennet said.
In testimony before the Senate on Friday, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said mail sorting machines were routinely cycled out for maintenance or upgrades. He also said there were no plans to reinstate mail sorting machines, 671 of which have been ordered removed under his tenure.
DeJoy announced Tuesday he would halt any changes to the USPS that could hinder ballot collection. But Democrats have been skeptical of the announcement, which made no mention of reinstating mail sorting machines that had already been decommissioned or protecting overtime for postal workers stretched thin by increased demand during the pandemic.
On Saturday, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on legislation that will infuse the Postal Service with $25 billion and prevent any major organizational changes to the agency before the election.
DeJoy said on Friday he would accept additional funding for coronavirus-related costs, though he said it wasn’t necessary.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not called back the Senate early from its August recess to vote on the bill, and its fate seems uncertain. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, has not responded to questions about how he will vote on the bill.
Colorado was one of the first states in the country to institute universal voting-by-mail. The state has one of the highest voter turnout rates in the country since the policy began in 2014, and costs associated with running the election for counties across Colorado fell by about 40%, according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts published in 2016.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold has said that 0.0027% of mail-in ballots cast in the 2018 election were referred to further investigation after being reviewed by a team of judges.
On Tuesday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said the state would join several others, including New Mexico, in a federal lawsuit challenging the decisions made by DeJoy to cut services and decommission mail sorting machines since he was appointed to his role on June 15.
USPS in ColoradoIn his announcement, Weiser said at least five bar code sorters and at least one sequencing system have been removed from a major Denver mail distribution center.
James Boxrud, a spokesman for the Colorado division of the USPS, told The Durango Herald he is not aware of any slowdown in mail processing since DeJoy was appointed, and said processing and delivery centers in Denver and Albuquerque have “ample capacity to meet expected election and political mail volume.”
Weiser, however, argued that removing the machines, as well as claims made by postal workers of reduced approval for overtime, threaten the security of the mail-in ballot system and could lead to ballots not being counted.
“The sweeping changes that the postmaster general implemented at the Postal Service are illegal and threaten to undermine our state’s independent authority to conduct elections,” Weiser said. “Every Coloradan who uses the Postal Service for essential and time-sensitive items should be alarmed.”
Jacob Wallace is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C.