New Jersey Delegation Members Yet Again Seek Answers from USPS

October 30, 2020, 1:56 pm | in

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-9) at today's event.

New Jersey Delegation Members Yet Again Seek Answers from USPS

DeJoy continues stonewalling Congress

PATERSON, NJ – Members of the New Jersey delegation have again reached out to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy demanding urgent answers on the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) ability to carry out the Garden State’s nearly-all vote-by-mail election, as well as on USPS continuing to illegally block congressmembers from inspecting a mail sorting facility in Kearny.

The letter is signed by U.S. Reps. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ-06), Albio Sires (D-NJ-08), Donald M. Payne, Jr. (D-NJ-10), Donald Norcross (D-NJ-02), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12), Tom Malinowski (D-NJ-07), Andy Kim (D-NJ-03), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11), and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-05).

“We are distressed by the lack of transparency USPS continues to display in the face of legitimate questions about readiness to handle a VBM-based national election. The USPS OIG found several occasions where the postal service under your leadership failed to provide complete and timely information to Congress. USPS continues to illegally block our requested oversight tour of the Dominic V. Daniels Processing and Distribution Center ahead of the election,” the members write DeJoy. “With the election now days away, your failure to respond and seeming eagerness to shirk congressional oversight calls into question your ability to lead USPS through these challenges. It is necessary that USPS formally respond to the questions in our September 30 letter by November 2.”

On September 30, Pascrell led Members of the New Jersey Delegation in a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy demanding an emergency visit to the Daniels Center in Kearny and requesting information on USPS’s ability to carry out New Jersey’s all vote-by-mail general election by October 12. To date, USPS has not responded.

North Jersey has been plagued by reports of mail found discarded and undelivered. On October 4, mail bound for West Orange was discovered in a dumpster in North Arlington. On April 25, mail, including ballots for municipal elections, was discovered dumped in several apartment building lobbies across Bellville. On May 5, stacks of ballots were similarly left strewn across the floor of apartment lobbies in Paterson.

On October 7, Reps. Pascrell, Sherrill, and Sires requested that the USPS Inspector General conduct an investigation of USPS illegally blocking them from inspecting the Dominick V. Daniels Processing and Distribution Center in Kearny on the erroneous assertion that congressional oversight of postal facilities cannot occur near an election. Importantly, Rep. Pascrell visited the Daniels facility weeks before the 2018 midterm elections unimpeded. On October 19, Reps. Pascrell and Malinowski visited the Daniels facility, but were blocked from entry.

The text of the members’ latest letter to DeJoy is provided below.

October 30, 2020

Mr. Louis DeJoy

Postmaster General

U.S. Postal Service

475 L’Enfant Plaza, S.W.

Washington, DC 20260-0546

Dear Mr. DeJoy:

On September 30, we wrote to you with several questions regarding the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) preparedness for the upcoming general election in New Jersey on November 3. Our state’s election will be conducted almost entirely through vote-by-mail (VBM). Given the urgency, we sought answers to these questions by October 12 and additionally requested USPS schedule an oversight tour of the Dominic V. Daniels Processing and Distribution Center by October 16. To date, we have received no formal reply from you or any of your subordinates.

New Jerseyans have suffered a slew of mail delivery issues throughout this year including ballots improperly dumped^[i] and improperly postmarked^[ii]. While you have failed to respond to our questions on the extent and impact of your operational changes on mail delivery^[iii], the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) found significant issues with these changes. Most alarming, the OIG found your attempts to curtail overtime and restrict deliveries led to significant drops in timeliness and mail service performance for all mail products.^[iv]

Over 3 million VBM ballots have already been cast in New Jersey.^[v] With election day less than a week away, our constituents and the general public continue to face mail delivery delays as bad as at any point this year.^[vi] Nationally, 85.6% of all first-class mail was delivered on time (or within three days) the week of October 16, the 14th consecutive week the on-time rate sat below USPS’s goal of 90% for mail delivered on time.^[vii] More than 42 million out of the 92 million VBM ballots requested by voters nationally have not yet been returned as of October 28. Many of these voters will rely on USPS for timely delivery of their ballot.^[viii]

Many states require VBM ballots be received by election day to be counted. Others, like New Jersey, require ballots be postmarked by election day and received no later than one week after election day. As delivery performance continues to lag, nonpartisan election and postal experts are warning voters that USPS can no longer be relied upon to deliver ballots by state deadlines.^[ix] Amidst your sweeping operational changes, USPS warned that even when voters meet state deadlines for mailing their ballot, the postal service cannot guarantee all ballots will arrive at their destination in time to be counted.^[x]

We are distressed by the lack of transparency USPS continues to display in the face of legitimate questions about readiness to handle a VBM-based national election. The USPS OIG found several occasions where the postal service under your leadership failed to provide complete and timely information to Congress.^[xi] USPS continues to illegally block^[xii] our requested oversight tour of the Dominic V. Daniels Processing and Distribution Center ahead of the election. Using the Hatch Act as a shield is a preposterous perversion of the law and constitutionally permitted oversight. The Office of Special Counsel concluded in 2018 that the Hatch Act does not provide a basis to prevent an elected official to visit a federal facility for an official purpose.^[xiii]

In our letter to you last month^[xiv], we provided you with ample time to answer our questions about timely mail delivery and handling of ballots ahead of the election. With the election now days away, your failure to respond and seeming eagerness to shirk congressional oversight calls into question your ability to lead USPS through these challenges. It is necessary that USPS formally respond to the questions in our September 30 letter by November 2.

As tens of millions of Americans continue to cast their ballots through the mail, it is essential USPS maintain transparency with the public and allow for oversight by democratically elected representatives of the people. Our democracy depends on it.

Sincerely,

###

[i] https://newjerseyglobe.com/campaigns/allegation-of-mail-in-ballots-tossed-near-dumpster-gets-no-response-from-usps-local-police; https://newjerseyglobe.com/local/west-orange-residents-werent-told-their-mail-was-in-a-dumpster; https://patersontimes.com/2020/05/05/stacks-of-mail-in-ballots-left-at-paterson-apartment-buildings/

[ii] https://newjerseyglobe.com/governor/murphy-said-he-wasnt-told-about-6535-incorrectly-postmarked-ballots/

[iii] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/14/postal-service-trump-dejoy-delay-mail/

[iv] https://www.uspsoig.gov/document/operational-changes-mail-delivery

[v] https://newjerseyglobe.com/campaigns/almost-3-million-new-jerseyans-have-voted-bringing-turnout-to-49-4/

[vi] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/14/upshot/is-the-mail-getting-slower-tracker.html

[vii] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/10/27/usps-delays-election-day/

[viii] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/28/mail-ballots-postal-service/

[ix] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/10/27/usps-delays-election-day/

[x] https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/usps-states-delayed-mail-in-ballots/2020/08/14/64bf3c3c-dcc7-11ea-8051-d5f887d73381_story.html