Former U.S. House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said there is a new debate emerging over mail-in voting.
This time, the former lawmaker from Utah said it is Democrats who are accusing President Donald Trump of “cheating and manipulating the Postal Service in his favor.”
In an opinion piece published by Fox News, the author of “Power Grab: The Liberal Scheme to Undermine Trump, the GOP, and Our Republic,” points out that there was bipartisan support of the postal leadership in place. He noted that the president doesn't "control the operations of the Postal Service nor does he select or appoint the Postmaster General."
“Conveniently they forget to mention the president is more than an arms-length away from how we vote, and the Postal Service is not under the thumb of his control,” Chaffetz said of Democrats.
He agreed that Trump has “rightfully so” voiced concerns about the validity of mail-in ballots and has “simply sought fair elections.”
He blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to help the Postal Service, saying it would federalize elections and give the president power he doesn’t currently have now.
“Her solution would create the problem she inaccurately blames Trump for today,” he said of Pelosi.
He said Pelosi has blamed Trump “to the point of cheating.”
“Alarmingly, the Postmaster General — a Trump mega-donor — has acted as an accomplice in the president's campaign to cheat in the election, as he launches sweeping new operational changes that degrade delivery standards and delay the mail," said Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Currently, elections are administered by counties and certified by states. They are not run by the executive branch of the federal government.
But Chaffetz said the USPS Board of Governors was in shambles when Trump took office. He said former President Barack Obama “neglected the board.”
“There were not enough members to even form a quorum. In fact, by December 2016 there were zero of a possible nine appointed Governors. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was blocking multiple nominations,” he wrote.
Currently, Robert Duncan serves as the chairman of the Board of Governors. From 2007 to 2009, he was the chairman of the Republican National Committee. He was reappointed in 2019 unanimously by senators.
“It will be difficult for the Democrats, with a straight face, to complain about Duncan’s leadership when the Senate confirmed him a second time and did so unanimously,” Chaffetz said.
Any claims that there is a “shortfall in service” shouldn’t be put on Trump, Chaffetz wrote.
“It isn’t the president who is in charge,” he said. “The Board of Governors and the Postal Rate Commission make the decisions.”
“The Postal Service offers a variety of products and services. Pay for First Class mail and you get faster service. Pay for bulk mail and you get much slower service. It’s been that way for a long, long time. It’s not something President Trump conjured up to manipulate the election. And Pelosi and Schumer know it,” he concluded.
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