AG Ferguson asks Yakima judge to halt ‘drastic’ changes to USPS while lawsuit plays out
Sep 10, 2020, 11:01 AM
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a motion in court this week, asking a Yakima judge to halt all “drastic operational changes” by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) while a lawsuit plays out in court.
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If approved, the injunction would stop a new USPS policy “where postal trucks are required to leave at specified times, regardless if there is mail still to be loaded,” as well as mandate that the USPS treat all election mail as First Class mail, and require postal service facilities to reassemble decommissioned mail sorting machines.
“The Postal Service provides a critical lifeline to our veterans and seniors,” Ferguson said in a written release. “With the national election less than two months away, we are seeking a judicial order protecting this critical government service.”
Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy had previously vowed to halt a series of changes he had instituted until after the November election. That being so, he also stopped short of agreeing to reinstall mail sorting machines, which had been dismantled under his orders.
And while the USPS did approve the reinstallation of several sorting machines at a Tacoma processing facility, similar action hasn’t been seen in other facilities across the United States.
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Postal service leadership previously said its machines were brought offline because fewer people have been sending mail over the past few years, especially during the pandemic. Despite that, many have voiced concerns that taking sorting machines offline could delay the timely delivery of ballots for the upcoming election.
USPS machines are capable of sorting over 20,000 letters in an hour, and are roughly the size of a city bus. Without them, postal service employees told KUOW that it “would take a crew of 20 to 30 people hand-sorting the mail all night to do what one of these machines can do in a couple hours.”
Washington is leading the multi-state lawsuit, joined by Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. In late August, a judge agreed to expedite the case, giving the Trump administration 10 days to answer questions from plaintiffs and provide evidence and documents.
KIRO Radio reporter Nicole Jennings contributed to this story.
