Democrats Accuse Louis DeJoy of Sabotaging Election as Postmaster General Ordered to Expand Mail Delivery

Democrats have strongly criticized Postmaster General Louis DeJoy just days after a district judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to take measures to ensure mail-in ballots arrived on time to be counted for next week's election.

The USPS on-time delivery rate for first-class mail declined to 85.6 percent to the week ending October 16. This is a significant fall from an on-time rate of almost 91 percent for the three months to June, according to CBS News. This could affect the arrival of potentially crucial mail-in ballots. If ballots arrive too late, they will not be counted in some states.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) accused the USPS Board of Governors of being "accomplices" in DeJoy's effort to sabotage the post office. She issued a statement on Wednesday.

"The USPS Board of Governors has refused to release information about their own financial ties and has doubled down on their support of Louis DeJoy," Warren said.

"Once again, I call on the board members to release their financial disclosure forms, remove DeJoy, and do their jobs by reversing DeJoy's actions."

"The @USPS Board of Governors are acting as accomplices to Louis DeJoy's sabotage of the Postal Service," she added in a tweet.

DeJoy has been accused of slowing down mail delivery through his policies, in particular his decision to remove high-speed mail sorting machines. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the restoration of some of the machines last week.

"Despite his assurances, the Postmaster General has failed to fix the problems he created and cannot be relied on for the on-time delivery of election mail," Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said on Wednesday. She is chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee

"At this point, Americans should either vote in person or drop their ballot in an official drop box to avoid their ballots not being delivered on time," she said.

Many prominent social media users pointed out on Wednesday that if voters hadn't already sent their ballots by mail, they should instead drop them off in person as USPS could not be trusted to deliver them on time. Connecticut's Democratic Governor Ned Lamont urged voters not to place their trust in the post office.

"As we are less than one week away from the election, if you are voting early by absentee ballot it is strongly urged that you deliver your ballot in person at your local drop-off box. You should not rely on #USPS mail delivery at this point," Lamont tweeted.

On Wednesday night, Fox News personality Tucker Carlson claimed to have "damning" evidence against Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden, but said the documents had been lost in the mail by a "large national carrier." He didn't mention USPS by name, but many on social media made that assumption.

"We disagree with Tucker Carlson on the issues, but no one should ever lose their mail," tweeted Biden | Harris War Room, a grassroots organization supporting the Democratic ticket.

"Joe will make sure the USPS receives the funding it needs to prevent this from happening, and end Trump and DeJoy's efforts to sabotage it so that people like Tucker can get their mail on time," they said.