Union leaders say the screening system Trump ordered could insert postal workers into nasty partisan politics and even lead to harassment.
President Donald Trump’s mail-ballot scheme for the U.S. Postal Service will undermine public trust in a respected agency and potentially put workers in harm’s way, unions representing postal employees warn.
The president issued an executive order earlier this year requiring the Postal Service to create a screening system that would restrict mail voting, a move intended to boost Republican candidates. Voting rights groups are challenging the legality of the order, yet the Postal Service, which Trump is trying to stack with allies, has plowed ahead with trying to build the system ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Jonathan Smith, president of the American Postal Workers Union, said he is worried about both voter disenfranchisement and postal workers being caught in the middle of a political battle. The Postal Service is supposed to be independent and neutral in its handling of the mail — not a gatekeeper to ballots — so Smith fears his members will be inserted into nasty partisan politics, maybe even subject to violence and harassment.
Add your first comment to this post