MERRIFIELD, Va (ABC7) — Some local postal workers and union members are disputing assertions by the U.S. Postmaster General that sorting machines recently taken out of service are not needed.
On Friday Louis DeJoy told the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee he had no intention of replacing high volume sorting machines that have been taken out of service, saying they are not needed to handle mail-in ballots this fall or for anything beyond that.
“We are moving these machines out to make room to process packages. We have hundreds of these machines everywhere. And still not any kind of drain on capacity,” DeJoy said.
“The postal service will deliver every ballot and process every ballot in time that it receives.”
Local postal worker unions have told ABC7 of at least 15 high volume sorting machines that have been taken out of service in the DC area in about the past month – three in Gaithersburg, four in Capitol Heights, two in Washington, three in the Merrifield area, and three near Dulles.
Some workers and union leaders tell us those machines will be needed for mail-in ballots this fall, but because many of them are being taken apart the recent changes cannot be undone.
DeJoy says many of the decisions about mail sorting machines were made before he took office in mid-June, but local workers say they’ve never seen as many machines taken out of service as they have over the past month.
“We know mail volume is going to increase. These operational changes are reckless,” said Michael Hora with the National Postal Mail Handlers Union. “Stop removing postal equipment and let us do our damn job.”
Some disputed DeJoy’s assertion that the machines are being removed to make room to process packages.
