Pascrell Convenes Delegation Briefing on Post Office Election Efforts

PATERSON, NJ – This morning, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. led members of the New Jersey congressional delegation on a briefing with United States Postal Service (USPS) officials. Speaking with David Williams, USPS Chief Operating Officer, Reps. Pascrell, Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ-06), Albio Sires (D-NJ-08), Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ-10), Donald Norcross (D-NJ-01), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-05), Andy Kim (D-NJ-03), Tom Malinowski (D-NJ-07), and Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11), and representatives of Chris Smith (R-NJ-04) probed USPS’s work to carry out the state’s first-ever all-vote-by-mail primary election.

“Voting by mail is nothing new for Garden Staters, but this year we are in uncharted waters,” said Rep. Pascrell, one of Congress’s leading champions of the post office and expanded national vote-by-mail. “Over six million ballots and ballot applications are being sent to voters for our state’s July 7 primary. This is a massive undertaking that will require cooperation between state, county, and local officials with USPS to ensure all ballots are received, returned, and counted on time. After seeing some kinks in recent local election mail voting, the delegation was eager to speak with USPS leaders and hear about USPS’s preparedness.

Pascrell continued, “We all watched with horror the chaos this week in Georgia. At stake is not just our primary election, but also New Jersey’s fast-approaching November vote and democracy itself in America. We can show the world that expanded vote-by-mail is good for democracy. We need to get our elections right.”

During the briefing, the delegation members emphasized their appreciation for USPS’s staffing challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to enact the HEROES Act, which contains $25 billion to keep USPS alive, as well as $3.6 billion in funding to states to support vote-by-mail efforts.

Rep. Pascrell has been a leader in Congress demanding reform to return the USPS to its former glory and strengthen it so it remains an integral part of American life, goals he outlined in a well-received April 2019 essay in Washington Monthly. Pascrell is a cosponsor of H.R. 2382, the USPS Fairness Act that would finally remove the health care prefunding anchor that has been strangling USPS since 2007. Pascrell is also a strong supporter of widespread postal banking, and in June 2019 his bipartisan amendment allocating $1 million to begin funding a postal banking system was passed by the House of Representatives. On May 21, 2020, Pascrell demanded a USPS Inspector General investigation into continued political interference in USPS operations by Donald Trump and the Trump administration.

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