On June 15, Louis DeJoy, a prominent businessman and Republican donor was appointed to serve as the 75th postmaster, in charge of managing the United States Postal Service (USPS). USPS has been struggling financially in the past years and it’s financial position has worsened due to COVID-19. DeJoy enacted several changes to USPS including eliminating worker overtime, severely limiting the use of high technology mail sorters and restructuring company hierarchy. These alterations resulted in USPS being less timely and effective and accumulated criticism nation-wide.

USPS delivers medication, bills and is set to send in mail-in ballots this November. DeJoy claims these cutbacks were necessary to promote financial stability within USPS, yet these changes have caused serious distrust within Americans especially surrounding the election leading DeJoy to announce that he would be suspending further changes.

In addition to DeJoy’s modifications, President Trump made several claims about mail-in voting calling it “rigged...cheating, forgery and theft,” though studies conclude that mail-in voting has no partisan advantage. Trump’s comments combined with USPS’s inefficiency has led to 73% of Republicans believing mail-in votes will not be counted accurately according to a NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll. DeJoy still believes that USPS will have the capacity to handle mail-in ballots though 600 mail sorting machines are no longer in use.

Mail-in ballots are depended upon by thousands of Americans who no longer feel safe showing up to the polls and the current trust of USPS can severely influence this election and people’s perception of the results.