The U.S. Postal Service said it will stop removing mailboxes until after the November election following a social media outcry over disappearing iconic blue boxes in several locations across the country, a USPS representative told NBC News.
That pledge came on the same day that the USPS warned all 50 states and the District of Columbia that it cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail will arrive in time to be counted for the U.S. election.
“We are not going to be removing any boxes," USPS spokesman Rod Spurgeon told NBC News. "After the election, we’re going to take a look at operations and see what we need and don’t need.”
Concern over the Postal Service came to the forefront this week when President Donald Trump said he would withhold funding for the agency to restrict the ability of American’s to vote by mail during the pandemic. However, Trump also said he would sign a bill including funding for the Postal Service.
The newly appointed Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, is a longtime Trump ally and the 2020 RNC fundraising lead. In nine weeks on the job, he has overhauled the Postal Service’s corporate structure and reassigned 33 top executives, according to The Washington Post.
NEW: In a letter to NC, @USPS warns that under NC elex laws "certain deadlines for requesting and casting mail-in ballots are incongruous" w/ USPS delivery standards. Says there's a risk ballots requested near deadline "will not be returned by mail in time to be counted." #ncpol pic.twitter.com/K61Ee6jT0R
— Kevin Frey (@KevinFreyTV) August 14, 2020
The Postal Service has nearly 142,000 mailboxes across the country and removes or relocates them occasionally, agency spokesperson Kimberly Frum told The Post.
Mailboxes have reportedly been removed in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Montana.