Sabotage, weaponizing, vandalism: What Gavin Newsom thinks of Trump’s treatment of USPS

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday likened the Trump administration’s handling of the United States Postal Service to “sabotage” as the country prepares for an election in a pandemic in which tens of millions of votes will be cast by mail.

“I haven’t experienced this in my lifetime,” Newsom said during a press conference, “the weaponization of sorts of our postal system.”

He spoke a day after President Donald Trump told reporters he was reluctant to provide additional money for the Postal Service in the next round of federal COVID-19 assistance because it would help the agency handle the “millions and millions of ballots” he said would be mailed in, seemingly to disadvantage his re-election campaign.

The Postal Service recently has been warning states that some mail-in ballots might not be delivered on time this fall, raising fears that votes won’t be counted.

Newsom, who has avoided for much of the coronavirus crisis publicly lambasting the president, called the postal service “as American as apple pie,” and said attempts to deny the agency funds during the emergency would have deep consequences.

“This is going to impact not just elections,” Newsom said, adding that withholding money would affect how vulnerable populations get their medications, or hamper communications during a time when people are discouraged from in-person socialization.

“I’m not a member of the federal government, but however, as a federal taxpayer, I demand and expect more of our country,” Newsom said.

Newsom in May issued an emergency order this spring requiring election officials to send mail-in ballots to all registered voters because of the coronavirus outbreak. To receive a ballot, voters have to be registered at least 15 days before Election Day.

Mail-in voting has been growing in California for years. California in 2018 recorded 65% of the ballots cast were sent through the mail. That number bumped to 72% in March.

This year, ballots will be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive within 17 days of Nov. 3, which could provide a time buffer should the postal service be overwhelmed.

“We thought that was important with all the uncertainty of COVID,” Newsom said. “We didn’t realize how prescient, not just important, that now appears to have been with what has happened, with what I would describe almost as vandalism of our postal system.”

Newsom acknowledged Friday that despite the effort to make voting safer during COVID-19, some will prefer casting their ballots in person.

“There’s something that is very touching and emotional about that,” Newsom said. “I’ll be honest, that’s my preferred source of voting. There’s something about Election Day.”

This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Sabotage, weaponizing, vandalism: What Gavin Newsom thinks of Trump’s treatment of USPS."