President Biden is making appointments within the U.S. Postal Service to safeguard mail-in ballots, a lawyer said.
Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor, said it was part of a political fight within the Postal Service.
Republican lawyers fighting mail-in voting recently wrote in a court brief that it disproportionately favors Democratic Party candidates.
Vance wrote in his legal blog: Civil discourseOn Monday, Biden appointed former Florida Congresswoman Val Demings and Republican businessman William Zollars to the board of governors to exert more control.
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In March, Biden nominated former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.
The council is composed of 11 people, nine of whom are appointed by the president, like a Supreme Court justice.
The other two members of the board are the Postmaster General and the Deputy Postmaster General.
Vance, a liberal Democrat, said Biden is seeking to remove Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
“The good news is that this is a critical step toward replacing Louis DeJoy, Trump’s postmaster general, who is still in office.”
“DeJoy implemented measures that he claimed were intended to reduce costs but in practice seriously hampered mail delivery,” Vance alleged.
“In a notorious move, he dismantled the sorting machines. That led to huge delays and serious delivery delays. It turned out that that led to major slowdowns in key states right before the 2020 election, which meant that tens of thousands of ballots arrived too late to be counted,” she added.
Newsweek requested comment via email from DeJoy’s office on Tuesday.
Vance said Biden was changing the board to get rid of DeJoy.
“Only the Council can remove the postmaster… The seven-year terms mean it took Biden this long to have enough vacancies to change the balance on the Council,” she wrote.
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On Monday, a federal judge rejected a Republican challenge to a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted after an election.
The law allows votes to be counted up to five days after an election, provided the vote is postmarked no later than election day.
Judge Louis Guirola wrote that the question arises “in terms of whether Mississippi’s mail-in voting law conflicts with federal law, in which case plaintiffs claim their rights would be violated.” He said he found no such potential violation.
The RNC has claimed that mail-in voting “hurts” Republican voters, who are less likely to vote by mail.
Newsweek requested comment via email from the RNC on Tuesday.
This is all the more important as the 2024 presidential election is expected to be close.
The latest poll shows that Vice President Kamala Harris’ approval rating has increased significantly, while Donald Trump’s has fallen.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll of 1,200 adults released Sunday showed Harris’ approval rating at 43 percent.
Trump’s approval rating fell 4 points, from 40% to 36%.
Uncommon knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
