Council unanimous in support for state lawsuit action on USPS changes

The Common Council today voted unanimously in favor of legislation supporting the State of Wisconsin’s position in the lawsuit entitled State of Washington, et al., vs. Donald J. Trump, et al., challenging recent changes to the United States Postal Service.

The resolution for immediate adoption (File #200620) – authored by Alderman Khalif J. Rainey – puts the city on record in support of the State of Wisconsin’s position in the multi-state lawsuit filed against President Donald Trump, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the United States Postal Service, challenging policy and operational changes to the Postal Service in advance of the November 3^rd election.

Beginning in June 2020, the U.S. Postal Service, responsible for delivering what is predicted to be a substantially increased volume of mail-in ballots across the country, without public announcement or notice to members of Congress, issued a number of policy changes that would eliminate or alter operational practices critical to the timely delivery of all mail, including mail-in ballots. The changes included the removal of hundreds of collection boxes and high-speed sorting machines, reducing overtime, and prohibiting late and extra trips.

Alderman Rainey, chair of the Community and Economic Development Committee, said the USPS changes came as the COVID-19 public health emergency prompted many states and municipalities to take steps to make mail-in voting easier and more widely available, as a way of safely enabling voting because of the difficulties in maintaining social distancing at voting sites and protecting both voters and poll workers from potential disease transmission.

“The USPS changes have led to widespread reports of delays for businesses, for seniors and veterans expecting medications and important checks, and have been put in place – in my opinion – to sabotage mail-in voting for what is one of the most critical elections in our history,” Alderman Rainey said.

“In my view the state must be a part of the multi-state lawsuit to roll back the USPS changes and get our mail delivery system back up to its full efficiency, and I want to thank my colleagues for their unanimous support of my legislation,” he said.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.