USPS governing board chair revealed as head of Mitch McConnell super PAC

The chairman of the US Postal Service governing board continues to direct Mitch McConnell's multi-million dollar super PAC, following accusations that Donald Trump's administration aided by congressional Republicans have threatened to suppress mail-in voting efforts as Democrats accuse agency leadership of conflicts of interest.

Robert "Mike" Duncan is among three principals listed with the Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate Majority Leader's $127m political action group, according to recent filings with state regulators in Virginia. The filings were first reported by Jesse Lehrich from the advocacy group Accountable Tech.

Mr Duncan was listed as the super PAC's chair in 2018 and 2019 disclosures during his confirmation to the USPS Board of Governors.

The recent filing follows intense scrutiny over the fate of the beleaguered agency and its postmaster general Louis DeJoy, who was appointed by the president earlier this summer, as House Democrats accuse the administration of sabotaging vote-by-mail efforts during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure his re-election in November.

Democrats in the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to support the Delivering For America Act, which would inject $25bn into the agency and reverse sweeping cuts and operational changes, including the removal of mail-sorting machines and public mailboxes, and halt any changes that have slowed deliveries and ensure that all election-related mail be prioritised.

Lawmakers fear that recent cuts have also jeopardised the deliveries of prescription drugs, social security checks, rental and credit card payments and other bills and critically needed mail.

Senator McConnell has refused to bring up a standalone funding bill for the USPS to his Republican-controlled Senate. The president has also threatened to veto the measure.

Five of the six members of the USPS Board of Governors – who selected the president's appointee, a prominent donor to the Trump campaign – have financial, legal and campaign ties to the president and Republicans.

Mr Duncan, from Senator McConnell's Kentucky, previously served as general counsel and chair of the Republican National Committee from 2002 to 2009, during which the GOP and related state organisations steered mass voter suppression efforts that also aimed at mail-in voting disenfranchisement. He also was listed as a director of American Crossroads, a super PAC that has spent nearly $2m supporting the president's re-election bid this year.

In June, he confirmed Mr DeJoy – who has donated to the president's campaign – as the new postmaster general.

The House Oversight Committee could subpoena Mr DeJoy for internal USPS documents following Democrats' suggestion that conflicts of interest within USPS leadership have also contributed to nationwide chaos at post offices.

Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed that vote-by-mail efforts are vulnerable to mass fraud, an assertion that his campaign has not backed with any evidence, according to court documents related to the campaign's federal lawsuit to block drop-off ballot boxes.

He has nearly explicitly admitted his administration will block funds to the USPS to prevent mail-in voting.

"They want $25bn for the post office," he told Fox News this month. "They need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. Now, in the meantime, they aren't getting there. 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."

Mr Trump participates in mail-in voting; he submitted his absentee ballot for Florida's primary elections through a third party, a practice that many Republicans, including the president, said should be illegal.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee revealed that internal documents from the USPS showed a significant drop in service since the beginning of July, including first-class mail deliveries.

Roughly 180 million voters are eligible to vote by mail through absentee ballots, rather than potentially risk coronavirus infection or transmission by entering a voting precinct on election day this autumn. Millions of Americans already participated in elections using mail-in ballots.

Several House Republicans criticised the Delivering For America Act as a "smokescreen" to prevent legislation on the GOP's agenda and a "manufactured crisis" to "score points" following prime-time messaging during the 2020 Democratic National Convention that warned against voter suppression and criticised the president, whom Republicans cast as a victim of another "election hoax" not unlike his impeachment.