Social media is flooded with images of USPS mailboxes being removed from cities across the United States, which many believe is an attempt by President Donald Trump to "sabotage" the upcoming November election and help his re-election.
Several users shared images of what appear to be USPS mailboxes being transported and discarded on Twitter. A user named Thomas Kennedy shared a photo from Wisconsin showing dozens of blue boxes stacked up on top of one another.
"This is happening right before our eyes," he wrote. "They are sabotaging USPS to sabotage vote by mail. This is massive voter suppression and part of their plan to steal the election."
Many other social media user users shared similar images of the USPS letter collection boxes being "removed" in Manhattan, Portland, Eugene and Indianapolis.
Is Trump Trying to Rig the Election?
President Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of mail-in voting, which, in the middle of a pandemic, allows the nation the safest means of casting their votes in November.
Over the past few months Trump has falsely claimed that the widespread mail-in voting will lead to voter fraud and on Thursday, he admitted to starving the USPS of funds to so "they can't have universal mail-in voting." This has sparked speculation that the President is intentionally trying to hamper the Democrats' election preparation efforts and help his re-election bid.
Late last week, the Trump administration reshuffled USPS leadership and consolidated authority under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump ally and a major Replublican donor who has seemed to actively work to intentionally slow down the service's mail-delivering capabilities since his appointment in May.
A slower mail service could have a big impact this fall because an unprecedented number of Americans are expected to vote by mail and many states require a ballot to arrive at an election office by election day, regardless of when it was put in the mail, in order to be counted. At least 65,000 ballots were rejected during the 2020 primaries because they arrived too late.
USPS Spokesman Confirms Removal of Mailboxes
With respect to the disappearing mailboxes in Eugene and Portland, USPS spokesperson Ernie Swanson confirmed the removal of the boxes claiming they were only targeting sites where boxes were doubled up and that they were taking one box and leaving the other.
"The reason we're doing it is because of declining mail volume," Swanson said, noting that the orders came from USPS HQ last week. "Ever since the pandemic came along, people are mailing less for some reason."
Meanwhile, another USPS spokesperson, David Rupert, claimed the boxes were being replaced with newer, more secure model, as the older ones were damaged.
