WASHINGTON—The Letter Carriers and their senatorial allies launched a campaign for legislation to permanently halt President Donald Trump’s attempts to disrupt mail-in voting.
The Absentee Mail Voter Protection Act, introduced May 22 by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the top Democrat on the Senate panel that writes postal legislation, would overturn Trump’s March 31 executive order mandating the Postal Service become involved in determining which mail-in ballots are legitimate.
The Constitution says, deliberately, that states run elections, without manipulation by the president or interference by USPS. The union and the senators want to keep it that way. Trump doesn’t.
The measure, co-sponsored by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., would also ban such executive orders in the future. And the union convinced the three lawmakers to get 34 Democratic senators, including themselves, to sign a letter urging the USPS board to reject any and all mail-in voting bans.
“NALC appreciates Sens. Peters, Padilla, and Durbin’s leadership in fighting to protect Americans’ access to mail-in ballots,” union President Brian Renfroe said. “Voting by mail is safe, secure, and makes it easier for tens of millions of Americans to participate in our democracy. As this executive order is considered in the courts, NALC supports this legislation that focuses on protecting Americans’ right to vote by mail.”
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