US Presidential Elections 2024: US post service chief defends ballot delivery, dismisses Donald Trump’s claims

US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, on September 19, dismissed doubts about the US Postal Service’s role in the upcoming November 5 presidential elections.

DeJoy, who has held his position since 2020, responded to a question by a reporter about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s claim that the Postal Service will deliberately misplace mail-in ballots during the elections.

“My response is like my response to everyone who says that we’re not prepared for the election — it’s that they’re wrong,” he said. “I don’t know that I need to comment any more than that. They’re wrong.”

Furthermore, DeJoy pushed back on the claim that the Postal Service would not be able to handle the elections, reminding reporters that the organisation has been delivering ballots since 1864, ABC News reported.

“We recognise that election officials are under an extreme amount of pressure, and will remain so for at least the next two months,” he said. “We also recognise that the American public will become increasingly alarmed if there is ongoing dialogue that continues to question the reliability of the Postal Service for the upcoming elections.”

DeJoy noted that in 2020, which according to him was a “highly sensitive, sensationalised environment”, the Postal Service delivered 99.89% of the ballots from the voters to the election officials.

The defence DeJoy had to present was a result of the claims by former president Trump, who last week in an interview made false claims about the US Postal Service, according to ABC News.

“I read the post office is saying how bad it is. The post office is critiquing themselves, saying we’re really in bad shape. We can’t deliver the mail. And they’re not even talking about mail-in ballots, right? We’re going to dump millions and millions of dollars,” Trump said.