NAACP Election Lawsuit Says USPS Changes Aim to Disenfranchise Voters of Color

The NAACP has filed a lawsuit against the United States Postal Service and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, challenging his recent changes to the service in light of upcoming elections.

According to the NAACP, changes made to the postal service were a deliberate effort to discourage and prevent voters of color from voting in the upcoming election, The Hill reported.

The NAACP notes that these changes come as voters of color contend with disenfranchisement from the coronavirus on top of existing and systemic disenfranchisement.

The NAACP’s website quotes its president and CEO Derrick Johnson, who explained the postmaster general’s decision to make drastic cuts to the post office now is a “direct threat to the people of this nation’s right to vote in a fair and free election.”

The 2020 election lawsuit says the postmaster general lied by saying these cuts and restructuring efforts were posited as a move to increase efficiency.

The NAACP vote-by-mail lawsuit provides background for its claims.

The organization notes that after the coronavirus pandemic emerged this spring, numerous states made moves to expand vote-by-mail services. This was reportedly an effort to give citizens an opportunity to participate in the electoral system without exposing themselves and others to the coronavirus, as would be a possibility if they were to vote in-person.

These efforts were supported by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as by state and local election officials, the NAACP says.

In this legal news reported by the Denver Channel, the NAACP then goes on to explain DeJoy was appointed to the role of postmaster general of the United States on May 6, 2020. After his appointment, he made “significant operational changes” that affected the way the post office runs around the country, the election lawsuit explains.

Allegedly, he acknowledged these changes would affect the post office’s operations and would result in mail delivery delays and other issues.

DeJoy’s supposedly explained there would be serious delays while the new plan was being implemented, but assured members of the postals service that “operations will begin to run more efficiently and that delayed mail volumes will soon shrink significantly.”

However, the NAACP stresses, he did not lay out when the problems would be resolved and when efficiencies would emerge.

Additionally, the plan reportedly did not discuss how election mail would be handled.

The NAACP notes that historically, election mail has been treated as First Class mail, assuring it can be delivered and processed in a timely manner. But now, election officials will now have to pay more to have ballots delivered via First Class mail, putting strain on states amidst the existing stressors of the current pandemic.

This means election mail could be subject to serious delays and may not reach its destination in time, the NAACP says.

The postal service did acknowledge election mail could be delayed, but did not do anything to remedy the problem, the NAACP lawsuit says.

Allegedly, the USPS sent out a letter warning that “there is a significant risk that, at least in certain circumstances, ballots may be requested in a matter that is consisted with your election rules and returned promptly, and yet not be returned in time to be counted.”

According to the NAACP election mail lawsuit, this new system has the effect of disenfranchising voters, preventing their votes from being counted. The organization says this particularly affects voters of color, who already face systemic disenfranchisement.

Already there have been reports of mail delays around the country, the NAACP says. These delays and other problems prompted the House of Representatives to conduct a hearing, at which DeJoy appeared.

Allegedly, the changes made to the postal service did not fulfill the organization’s obligations to the public and were not conducted in a way that complied with required procures.

According to the NAACP, the changes were not made after seeking the required advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission.

Do you believe voting by mail is an important option during the pandemic? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The NAACP is represented by Sam Spital, Rachel Kleinman, Monique Lin-Luse, J. Zachery Morris and John S. Cusick of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund Inc., and by Allison M. Zieve and Matthew A. Seligman of Public Citizen Litigation Group.

The NAACP Post Office Voter Disenfranchisement Lawsuit is National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. United States Postal Service, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-02295, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

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