BOSTON (AP) — As mail voting takes center stage this election because of the coronavirus pandemic, officials in Massachusetts are voicing concern about the ability of the U.S. Postal Service to carry out its duties.
Unionized postal workers say the federal agency has removed at least a dozen high capacity mail sorting machines in the state as part of a nationwide reduction plan that they say will hobble mail delivery just as millions of voters are casting their mail ballots.
Nine machines were recently removed from a postal facility in Boston and three more were taken offline in central Massachusetts, union officials told WGBH News on Monday.
Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, a Democrat who oversees the state’s election process, criticized the removal of the machines — along with other recent cutbacks that have led to a nationwide slowdown in mail service — as “politically motivated.”
He said Tuesday that the state’s only recourse is legal action to make sure the agency prioritizes mail ballots ahead of the election, as it’s always done.
“We’re alarmed,” Galvin said. “The postal service has been able to provide ballot delivery even during wars, so I don’t understand why this would be such a problem.”
More than one million voters in Massachusetts have requested mail ballots ahead of the state’s Sept. 1 primary, and nearly 150,000 completed ballots have so far been returned, he said. The deadline to request a mail ballot is Aug. 26.
Galvin urged people to consider handing in mail ballots at designated local drop boxes, or take advantage of in-person early voting, which opens in Massachusetts on Saturday.
Meanwhile, state Attorney General Maura Healey, also a Democrat, says she and other state attorneys general are considering litigation to prevent the Republican President Donald Trump’s administration from enacting further cuts to the postal service ahead of the election.
And Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern on Tuesday said he’d introduce legislation into Congress meant to protect the agency.
He also called for the resignation of Louis DeJoy, who Trump recently appointed as U.S. Postmaster General, during a press conference outside the postal service’s regional distribution center in Shrewsbury. DeJoy is expected to testify before Congress on Monday.
U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch and U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, both Democrats, held events with postal workers in the state Tuesday as well.
An email seeking comment was sent to Massachusetts spokespersons for the postal service Tuesday afternoon.
The agency has said it will halt its efforts to remove mail sorting machines and public mailboxes across the country, but it’s not clear whether equipment that’s already been removed will be replaced.
About 20 pieces of mail sorting equipment were slated to be removed from June to August in the greater Boston-area, which includes Providence, Rhode Island, WGBH News reported.
Postal service officials have said the agency reductions, which included cuts to staff overtime, were due to lower mail volume during the pandemic.
Union officials, however, have been warning the reductions will prevent the agency from being able to handle the influx of election-related mail expected this year, not to mention seasonal surges in mail volume around the holidays or during tax season.
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