Judge orders USPS to ensure timely delivery of election mail

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• US District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan ordered the US Postal Service (USPS) to commit to prompt delivery of election mail.
• According to USPS spokesperson Marti Johnson, the agency’s top priority “is to deliver the nation’s Election Mail securely and in a timely fashion.”
• In a separate order issued last week, US District Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, instructed USPS to let go of the practices that resulted in the slow delivery of mail.

A nationwide order was issued by a federal judge to ensure timely delivery of mail for the upcoming November 3rd election. He also warned the US Postal Service (USPS) to provide weekly updates so its efforts on processing election mail can be monitored.

On Monday, US District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan ruled in favor of Americans and some political candidates who accused President Donald Trump, the USPS, and postmaster general Louis DeJoy of distorting mail-in voting.

“The right to vote is too vital a value in our democracy to be left in a state of suspense in the minds of voters weeks before a presidential election, raising doubts as to whether their votes will ultimately be counted,” he said.

In a written statement, USPS spokesman Marti Johnson said that the management is evaluating the ruling.

“There should be no doubt, however, that the Postal Service is ready and fully committed to handling expected increased volumes of Election Mail between now and the conclusion of the November 3rd election. Our number one priority is to deliver the nation’s Election Mail securely and in a timely fashion,”  Johnson said.

Marrero’s ruling also demands Trump to explain his personal rhetorics on the mail-in ballot’s incapacity to deliver credible results, despite it being the option given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Manhattan judge said that Trump, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, and the USPS “have not provided trusted assurance and comfort that citizens will be able to cast ballots with full confidence that their votes would be timely collected and counted.”

Marrero argued that their actions resulted in “rise to management and operational confusion, to directives that tend to generate uncertainty as to who is in charge of policies that ultimately could affect the reliability of absentee ballots, thus potentially discouraging voting by mail.”

Marrero asked both parties to settle the case in accordance with his ruling until Friday noon. Should they fail to meet the deadline, he will order the USPS to submit weekly reports to himself and the plaintiffs. He also threatened to order the agency to work overtime.

In the same manner, last week, US District Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, ordered the USPS to abandon its practices that resulted in slow delivery of mail since July. Bastian said that 14 states witnessed a “strong showing” that the White House was manipulating the agency “as a tool in partisan politics.”

Marrero echoed Bastian’s remark that the Postal Service employees should prioritize election mail as First Class Mail.

Source: NBC News