Louis DeJoy’s plan risks losing one million midterm ballots

A top US Postal Service whistleblower has warned that up to a million mail ballots could go missing in the run-up to November’s midterm elections after the agency rushed a new delivery system into operation this week.

The system, called “Delivering for America,” was ordered by former President Donald Trump through an executive order in March. It strips back mail tracking and consolidates hundreds of local sorting plants into regional mega-centers. The goal is to cut costs by $10 billion over a decade, but postal workers say it removes the safeguards needed to track ballots during peak election periods.

Internal documents obtained by France 24 show that managers were told not to divert extra trucks or staff even though the 2024 election is expected to see 40 million mail ballots cast—double the number in 2018. One senior supervisor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said parcels and letters are now “treated like bulk junk mail” once they enter the new regional hubs, making it easier for them to be misrouted or delayed.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who pushed the plan through despite opposition from Democrats, insists service will improve. But the whistleblower says the changes fly in the face of a 2020 court order that required the USPS to prioritize election mail. With early voting already underway in some states, any delay beyond the legal deadline of November 8 could disenfranchise thousands of voters. Civil rights groups have filed emergency motions to block parts of the plan, arguing that the timeline is “a recipe for chaos.”