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 3rd 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.
