Postal Service Halts Controversial Changes as California, Other States Threaten Lawsuit

The U.S. Postal Service will suspend proposed changes that critics said could compromise the upcoming presidential election, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced Tuesday.

"To avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded," DeJoy said in a statement.

DeJoy said post office retail hours will not change, mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes will not be removed and no mail processing facilities will be closed. Additionally, DeJoy said overtime will continue to be approved as needed.

The post office will be able to handle the increased volume of mail expected during the election, he added. But it's unclear whether the post office will replace mailboxes that have been removed and sorting equipment that has been shut off or moved.

California was among a coalition of 14 states preparing to file a lawsuit over the proposed changes. Attorney General Xavier Becerra said he'll be watching to see if the Postmaster makes good on his promises.

"We will act if they don't follow the law," Becerra told KQED. "Their words today seemed to imply that they've recognized that they were in violation of the law. We'll see moving forward, what they do next. Their words are just that. It's the deeds that are going to count."

Becerra said he'll do anything necessary to make sure people's votes are counted in the election.

In a statement, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla echoed Becerra and also called for the reversal of changes that have already been made.

"Postal workers deserve clarity from U.S. Postal Service leadership on why so many operations changes occurred. And voters deserve to know that their ballots will not be delayed,” Padilla said. “I want to see a public release of memos and directives from USPS leadership to postal workers about recent operational changes, including today's announcement. The postmaster general and the White House still have more questions to answer.”

Many more Americans are expected to cast votes by mail this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Democrats are particularly concerned that delivery delays could lead to thousands of mail-in ballots being rejected this fall.

"The people are speaking, this is like a volcano. They haven’t seen anything like this. They touched a nerve in America," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday.

The U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote Saturday on a $25 billion bill that would provide funding for the U.S. Postal Service and prohibit any changes in operation or level of service it had in place on Jan. 1.

"You know what — talk's cheap," said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, on Tuesday. "It’s going to require us to keep a laser focus on both his words and his actions and whether or not he’s going to reinstate all of the functions and services that were in operation on Jan. 1, 2020, which is what the legislation requires."

DeJoy, an ally of President Trump and major GOP donor, has come under fire in recent weeks for mail delivery problems across the country following major operational changes since taking over the service earlier this summer.

Last week, Trump indicated to Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo that he opposed Democrats' proposed boost in funding for the U.S. Postal Service because he wants to make it harder to expand voting by mail.

"They want $25 billion for the post office. Now, they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. Now, in the meantime, they aren't getting there. But if they don't get those two items, that means you can't have universal mail-in voting because they're not equipped to have it," Trump said.

He later walked those remarks back, claiming his only goal is to ensure the integrity of the Nov. 3 election, although there is no evidence that mail ballot systems lead to the fraud Trump says he's worried about. Numerous studies and experts also say vote-by-mail doesn’t create any significant partisan advantage.

DeJoy is also scheduled to testify Friday before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on the "finances and operations of the postal service during COVID-19 and upcoming elections,” the committee said.

NPR's Barbara Sprunt and KQED's Tara Siler contributed to this report.