Validity of mail-in voting under siege during Postal Service controversy

Postmaster General Luis DeJoy attempted to assuage voters that the USPS would deliver their ballots on time at an Aug. 24 hearing criticizing his operations while in office. Photo illustration by SAM ANDRUS Photo Editor

In the past few months, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has undergone vast changes that have resulted in significant delivery delays. On Aug. 24, Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) held a hearing questioning Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on his potential contribution to these delays, through his implementation of operational changes within the mere three months he has been in office. 

Complaints with the effectiveness of the USPS under DeJoy’s jurisdiction ranges from narratives of essential medicine arriving late, to fears that voters cannot trust their ballots to be delivered in time for election day Nov. 3. Senior public relations and advertising major Lucas Sunda shares this fear, arguing that “for either party, mail votes can be manipulated much easier.” But, DeJoy desperately attempted to assure voters that this year’s election would be the same as previous years.

“The postal service is fully capable and committed to delivering the nation’s ballots securely and on time,” DeJoy said in his testimony. “To be clear, we will do everything we can to handle and deliver election mail in a manner consistent with the proven processes and procedures that we have relied upon for years. Nevertheless, I encourage all Americans who choose to vote by mail to request their ballots early and to vote early as a common sense of best practice.”

Many Democrats were quick to look deeper, intimating that DeJoy could potentially be collaborating with President Donald Trump to intentionally sabotage the voting process for Trump’s benefit. Despite voting by mail himself, Trump actively encourages voters to go to the polls directly, calling mail-in voting “a free for all on cheating, forgery and the theft of Ballots.” Trump has also insinuated that a potential solution to the USPS delays could be pushing the election day forward, keeping him in office for longer.

“One can only reach as a fact-finder two conclusions,” said Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) while questioning DeJoy in the Monday hearing. “One, either through gross incompetence you have ended the 240-year history of delivering the mail reliably on time. Or, the second conclusion that we can gather is that you’re doing this on purpose, and that you’re deliberately dismantling this once-proud tradition.”

DeJoy fought back that he did not direct initiatives such as removing blue collection boxes or cutting back on overtime hours for employees. Instead, he argued he has used his initial months in office to mandate an on-time departure schedule. However, this information masks the fact that many of these postal vehicles departed with no cargo according to Maloney’s findings.

Maloney also criticized DeJoy for his failure to bring forward his service performance reports before the Aug. 21 deadline, which revealed sharp drops in the success of mail delivered – a clear contradiction to DeJoy’s own testimony in front of the house panel the week before. First-class mail deliveries were down by 8.1%, priority mail was down 7.97%, marketing mail deliveries were down by 8.42% and newspaper deliveries were down by 9.57% in comparison to before DeJoy’s changes were implemented.

“You and your aides have repeatedly downplayed the delays,” Maloney said. “You just downplayed it in your testimony, but this is just a disaster for the people who need their mail.”

In the midst of the calamity, eligible student voters at Chapman are encouraged by the Orange County Registrar of Voters’ Office to drop off their ballots at any of the 110 ballot boxes or over 160 vote centers to ensure their vote is submitted. However, in a poll collected by The Panther, 78% of students who voted, out of 211 responses, remained undeterred in their decision to vote by mail this coming election.

Neil Kelley, the Orange County Registrar of Voters, adamantly believes that the postal service controversy will not deter mail-in voting turnout, predicting that upwards of 95% of voters will opt for mail-in ballots this election.