US (SAVE THE POST OFFICE via AMERICANS FOR FINANCIAL REFORM) : CONGRESS must ACT to PROTECT VOTE BY MAIL NOW .

 

One of Louis DeJoy’s final moves at the Postal Service has quietly created a dangerous new threat to vote by mail. Due to a 2025 service slowdown, most of the country’s mail dropped in a blue box or handed to a mail carrier is no longer guaranteed to receive a same-day postmark. That includes tax returns, mortgage and bill payments, and perhaps most alarmingly, election ballots. DeJoy’s 10-year plan Delivering for America stripped mail processing out of local communities and shifted it to larger regional hubs that can be hundreds of miles away, sometimes in another state. Add in the Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) changes that took effect in 2025, and now that means a ballot dropped at a neighborhood blue box may take days before it even reaches a facility and receives a postmark. Postmarks are how most election officials verify that a ballot was mailed on time. When postmarking is delayed, ballots can become vulnerable to legal challenges and confusion, and expose voters to deliberate attempts to disqualify votes that were cast lawfully. Under Trump-aligned officials, these delays could be weaponized to undermine election outcomes after the fact. Vote by mail is not a partisan issue. Seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and many other voters without easy access to in-person voting options depend on vote by mail. So do many Republican voters in rural districts. All of this is why this is a rare moment where bipartisan pressure can force real change. Congress must pressure USPS to act now to get rid of the slowdown and establish clear guidelines for election mail and other time-sensitive things like paying rent and mortgages. Tell Congress to act now. Protect vote by mail and demand the USPS restore real-time postmarks before another election is put at risk. Send Your Message Ultimately the postal board and Postmaster General David Steiner are the ones who control changes in how USPS handles mail, but Congress has oversight authority over the post office – and public pressure works. It worked when we forced DeJoy to pause processing plant changes that were turning into a fiasco. It worked when Congress intervened to protect election mail in past cycles. It worked when we blocked Trump’s attempt to move the USPS under the control of the Commerce Department and when the administration floated the idea of firing the entire Board of Governors. It’s even worked to block the last two nominees Trump has tried to put on the board. That’s why we know if we apply pressure again – right now – we have a chance to fix this before the midterms. Lawmakers know that postmarks are not just some technical detail. They are a core piece of vote by mail integrity. If Congress fails to act, voters from both parties will pay the price. Ballots will be questioned. Results will be delayed. Trust in elections will take a hit. We cannot wait until elections begin and ballots get rejected. Congress must step in now to demand action. Tell Congress to protect vote by mail! Demand the USPS restore real-time postmarks for every ZIP code now. Let’s fix this before ballots are rejected. Annie and the Save the Post Office Team. Support This Campaign

Americans for Financial Reform