U.S. postmaster general says postal departments can deliver ballot papers safely and timely

Xinhua news agency, Washington, August 21 (reporter Xu Jianmei, sun Ding) – U.S. Postal service chief Louis dejoy said on the 21st that the U.S. Postal Service was fully capable of delivering postal ballots safely and timely when voting in this year’s election. At the hearing of the homeland security and Government Affairs Committee of the U.S. Senate on the same day, dejoy said that he supports the public to vote by mail, and that the postal department can ensure that the votes sent out seven days before the November 3 election voting day can be counted and delivered, and he is “very confident” about this. However, dejoy said he had no plans to restore the mail boxes or high-speed mail sorters that had been removed and could not provide detailed plans to Congress on how to ensure the timely delivery of postal ballots. According to U.S. media reports, dejoy, who supports President trump, recently reformed the U.S. Postal System, which has suffered losses for many years, including reducing the overtime hours of postmen and implementing new mail sorting and delivery policies. The removal of mail boxes and mail sorters in some areas has raised concerns about the slowing down of mail delivery and the impact on the delivery of ballot papers. As trump has repeatedly criticized mail voting as “inaccurate” and “deceptive”, people have accused trump of deliberately suppressing the US postal service in order to hinder public mail voting. Both trump and de joy denied it. Under pressure from all parties, dejoy announced on the 18th that all postal reform measures would be stopped before the election day. Due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the proportion of multi-state postal voting in the presidential primary election of the two parties in the United States has increased sharply. It is generally expected that the number of mail voting voters in this year’s general election will reach the highest level in the history of the United States. Polls show that Republican voters are more likely to vote on the spot, while voters are more likely to vote by mail because of the epidemic. If the number of votes mailed is large enough, it is possible to reverse the results of the live voting. However, it is expected that more time will be needed for the counting of postal ballots, or the election results will be difficult to come out on election night.