“Don’t Mess with the USPS”: Officials, residents denounce mail service disruptions
Credit: WDVM, Jasmine Pelaez
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (WDVM) — Outside of the Gaithersburg Post Office Friday, a crowd of residents and officials gathered to denounce recent mail disruptions ahead of the November election.
“I often tell people that while Donald Trump and I were actually born in the same hospital, the similarities of our life experience end there,” explained Victoria Paton.
Paton has lived in the Gaithersburg community for 30 years. During the coronavirus pandemic, she and her 85-year-old mother have relied on the United States Postal Service to deliver vital medications.
“The medications my mom and I and others take cannot be skipped for one day, two days or any days without consequences,” Paton said.
Paton is one of several constituents writing to local, state, and federal leaders after reports of the postal service removing mailboxes and sorting machines. The agency, headed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has stopped disruptions, but for Congressman David Trone, the issue remains.
“President [Donald] Trump, Postmaster DeJoy are playing politics with the postal service. We don’t, in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of the most consequential election in any of our lifetimes, allow that election to be interfered with,” Trone said.
In the June primary election, more than 95 percent of voters in Maryland relied on mail-in ballots, that’s according to Montgomery County Council member Evan Glass.
“There are already 70,000 Montgomery County voters who have applied for a mail-in ballot. 70,000 people are clamoring to vote and we have to make sure every one of their votes is counted,” Glass explained.
Trone again called for DeJoy to resign and joins fellow democrats in shoring up financial support for the postal service.
“Congress will step up tomorrow. The House will pass the $25 billion funding law, the delivering the mail act. We can’t play politics with voting, it’s too important,” Trone said.
