Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who is fighting to keep his seat from being flipped after President Donald Trump won his state in 2016, believes the Trump administration is taking steps to slow mail service after Michigan approved "no-reason absentee" ballots.
"What we're seeing from the postmaster general is that there are a number of procedures being put in place, presumably to save money, but the impact has been to slow down mail delivery," Peters told MSNBC on Tuesday. "We're hearing from folks in the Postal Service there aren't overtime processing centers are shut down early, mail has just been left off to the side, and that's certainly not part of the Postal Service, which works hard every day to make sure the mail gets out every day."
Peters said he believes there are two reasons, one being the Trump administration "does not like the Postal Service" and would like to privatize mail delivery.
"They believe if they slow down delivery that will get people upset about the Postal Service, but also know that slowing down the mail has a significant impact on a state that just moved to no-reason absentee voting, which means they can vote by mail by calling their clerk," Peters said.
All over Michigan, there have already been more requests for ballots than the entire vote total was in 2016, Peters said.
"Slowing down the mail and losing confidence in the mail could be part of what the Trump administration is doing right now," he added.
He stopped short of directly accusing Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a key Trump supporter who was appointed to the post earlier this year, of directing the Postal Service to slow down the mail.
"I can't say that, but it's certainly raising a lot of issues," Peters said. "I've asked my colleagues in the Senate to give me information as to what they're seeing in their state. I'm the ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs, responsible for overseeing the Postal Service. The stories I'm hearing are concerning. We have to get to the facts."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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