Postal unions defend USPS, mail-in ballots

With less than two months before the first ballots for the midterm elections are sent out via the U.S. Postal Service, union leaders are working to dispel persistent accusations of mail ballot fraud propagated by the Trump administration. On Tuesday, several dozen postal retirees their families and officials from the American Postal Workers Union gathered outside the James A. Farley Building in midtown Manhattan for a rally to call for attacks on the service – from threats to privatize USPS, move it to a different agency and attacks on vote by mail – to halt. 

Peter Coradi, national business agent with the American Postal Workers Union, told those assembled Tuesday that the postal service is a “national treasure” made up of tens of thousands of dedicated workers. 

"We never wavered and we still won't waver today despite those who are seeking to attack the peoples postal service,” he said.

President Donald Trump has pushed for the White House to have more control over voting and in March signed an executive order demanding the creation of a national voter list that limits to whom USPS can send ballots. USPS proposed a rule in June to follow the order, but Democratic officials in a dozen states filed suit to block the demand, leading to a federal court blocking the measure.  

That federal court blockage was upheld by an appeals court, and Trump has since asked the Supreme Court to intervene on his behalf. The postal workers union oppose Trump’s intervention, just as they have spoken out about his repeated lies about fraud in the 2020 presidential election. 

Joseph Martir, the president of the New York Metro Area APWU, spoke at a rally Tuesday aimed at raising awareness on the attacks by President Donald Trump on mail balloting.

Harper Freeman/ The Chief

Joseph Martir, the president of the New York Metro Area APWU branch, told The Chief during the rally outside of what was formerly the city's central post office that the President’s fraud claims have hurt his members’ morale. 

“It really saddens them because they do this every day,” he told The Chief at the rally on Tuesday. “It's hard enough to come to work because you have to deal with the trials and tribulations, but when you come home and they accuse you of something, your neighbors, they look at you funny, and that's not right. "

Martir represents around 4,000 workers in the New York Area who, he added, have many customers who are being told things about mail ballots "that are just not true."

USPS handled over 59 million pieces of ballot mail from Sept. 1 to Nov. 15 in 2024, a report from the USPS Office of the Inspector General found, with 97.3 percent of that election mail arriving on time.

Coradi slammed President Trump's moves to regulate mail balloting, pointing out that the President himself votes by mail ballot in nearly every election.

"Voting by mail works," he said.

USPS handled over 59 million pieces of ballot mail from Sept. 1 to Nov. 15 in 2024, a report from the USPS Office of the Inspector General found, with 97.3 percent of that election mail arriving on time.

Harper Freeman/ The Chief