'An attack on the First Amendment': Voting rights groups sue postmaster general Louis DeJoy to reverse post office reforms

Voting rights groups are suing the head of the postal service to reverse reforms which have caused backlogs and delays across the country months before an election in which record numbers are expected to vote by mail.

The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Maryland, accuses Louis DeJoy of “weaponising the United States Postal Service to disenfranchise Americans who choose to vote by mail.”

Mr DeJoy, a major donor to Donald Trump who was named head of the postal service in May, has overseen a raft of changes to working practices since his arrival — including the removal of mail processing machines and a ban on overtime — which caused severe delays to mail delivery.

Following an outcry from voting rights advocates and Democrats who said the delays amounted to election interference, he announced that he would suspend the reforms until after the November vote "to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail.”

But the lawsuit calls for a full reversal of the changes to working practices — including the removal of mail processing machines and a ban on overtime — which caused severe delays to mail delivery.

“Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has wreaked havoc across the country with reckless policies intended to disrupt the timely delivery of mail just weeks in advance of a general election,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which is pursuing the case. “Without question, DeJoy is weaponising the United States Postal Service (USPS) to disenfranchise Americans who choose to vote by mail amid an unprecedented pandemic gripping the nation.

Ms Clarke added that Mr DeJoy’s statement vowing to suspend changes “rings hollow in the absence of remedial action taken to address the damage that his actions have caused.”

Mr DeJoy claimed his reforms were long-planned and unrelated to the election. But the changes came at the same time president Trump has increased attacks on the validity of mail-in ballots and held up emergency funding for the postal service because he did not want to see their use expanded.

The suit was filed on behalf of voting rights groups the National Urban League, Common Cause and the League of Women Voters US against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the United States Postal Service.

It alleges that Mr DeJoy followed through on Mr Trump’s publicly stated desire to undercut the delivery of mail ballots by weakening the postal service, which violates the constitution.

“The drastic and disruptive changes to the Postal Service by the Trump administration have been an attack on every American’s right to vote and their First Amendment right to free speech – and they must be rolled back definitively with more than just a press release,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, President of Common Cause.

Following weeks of attacks against the post office and its ability to handle mail-in ballots in the upcoming election, Mr Trump offered a frank explanation last week about why he was blocking emergency funding for the service in the next coronavirus stimulus bill.

“They need that money in order to make the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” he told Fox Business. “But if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting, because they’re not equipped to have it.”

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Mr Trump has blocked much-needed funding for the postal service to help it deal with the pressures of the coronavirus.

House Democrats have called for $25 billion for the post office as part of a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package. That package would also include $3.6bn for election funding to help states meet the demands of holding a vote during the pandemic. The White House has rejected that proposal, citing Mr Trump’s false claims that granting the funding would lead to fraud.

Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell was one of more than 170 House members to sign a letter calling for the reversal of the reforms last week.

“I think the motivation is quite clear. Donald Trump sees mail-in balloting as a threat to his reelection, and so he's seeking to dismantle the post office,” he told The Independent.

Mr DeJoy is scheduled to testify in both chambers of Congress in the coming days, starting off with an appearance at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Friday.