Here’s what we know about Tacoma’s USPS sorting machines and mail-in voting
Changes to the United States Postal Service causing mail sorting machines to be dismantled across the country have trickled down to Tacoma.
The federal agency has been in the news recently over whether the Postmaster General will cut costs by reducing staffing and machinery that could impact some states’ mail-in ballots.
“One thing people can count on is vote by mail. We’ve been doing it for 10 years. It’s safe. It’s secure,” said Julie Anderson, the Pierce County Auditor who monitors elections locally.
While there isn’t an official concern over Pierce County’s election, Tacoma postal workers have resisted orders from USPS. Initially reported by KUOW, local mail-sorting machines have been ordered to be taken apart, but local staff have put the machines back together.
Machines decommissioned
In May, USPS announced a plan that would decommission 969 machines across the country, including four at the Tacoma Processing and Distribution Center.
As weeks passed, more machines were ordered to be decommissioned at the Tacoma center, according to Don Cheney with the Puget Sound Area Local APWU.
By Aug. 17, eight of the center’s 18 machines had been dismantled, Cheney told The News Tribune by email Monday.
“The carriers were telling us that there were two days where they didn’t take out like six routes... And it was because of the delay in the mail, sending it to Seattle — we normally did all that here,” said Donna Brooks, president of the Puget Sound Area Local American Postal Workers Union.
Despite national orders not to re-activate them, the Tacoma facility restored five of their mail-processing machines on Aug. 19. Two machines were not restored because their parts were used to add more bins onto other machines to sort letter mail to more carrier routes, Cheney said.
As of Saturday, mail processing was back to normal, Cheney said.
“Why the reversal in Tacoma P&DC? I don’t know, but most likely USPS HQ only authorized a specific number of mail processing machines to be removed in each office,” Cheney said in an email.
On Tuesday, members of the Puget Sound Area Local APWU stood out front of the Tacoma post office at 4001 S Pine St. with signs in support of the workers there, sharing flyers about the decommissioned machines.
“This is unprecedented — I’ve never seen anything like it,” Carol Mesford, a letter carrier in Tacoma for 40 years, said of the changes.
Patty Rose, secretary-treasurer for the Pierce County Labor Council, showed her support for the USPS workers on Tuesday.
“These are front line workers who have worked through the pandemic delivering mail and prescriptions and critical information. This has become a political game, and it shouldn’t be,” she said.
Congressman Denny Heck, D-WA, also went to the walk-out to support the postal workers and said there are two agendas stemming from the changes: discouraging vote-by-mail and an effort to privatize the delivery of mail.
“If you mess with the mail, you mess with the American people,” Heck said. “That’s what’s going on here.”
How did this start?
In recent weeks, the head of the USPS, Postmaster General Louis Dejoy, initially said he would reduce overtime hours, close mail facilities and remove mail processing equipment. Last week, he issued a statement saying that in light of the pandemic and upcoming election, these changes would not occur before November.
“In addition, effective Oct. 1, we will engage standby resources in all areas of our operations, including transportation, to satisfy any unforeseen demand,” the Aug. 18 statement said.
USPS spokesperson for the Pacific Northwest, Ernie Swanson, told The News Tribune last week that there are currently no machine or processing changes in Tacoma and referred further comment to Dejoy’s statement.
“It is business as usual at the Tacoma Mail Processing Center,” he said.
He has not responded to further questions on the current status of the letter-sorting machines in Tacoma.
Washington and Pennsylvania attorneys general filed lawsuits last week about the U.S. Postal Service changes that affect vote-by-mail and other services. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said he expected 13 other states to join in. Ferguson plans to continue with the lawsuit even after Dejoy rescinded his plans for change.
Is voting by mail still OK?
Anderson said whether mail-sorting machines remain in Pierce County, it is safe and secure to vote by mail.
Even if the processing machines are dismantled in Tacoma, Anderson said it’s not a concern for voters.
“This has been contemplated for several years as the USPS responds to mail trends,” she said in a Pierce County press release.
Ballots dropped off before the deadline on Nov. 3 would simply be sent to Seattle to be sorted rather than Tacoma. The ballots will be delivered a day later to the Pierce County Voting Center to be counted, Anderson said last week.
There will not be a need for more employees to count the expected 460,000 ballots, just a changing of schedules, Anderson said.
“This change of Pierce County mail going to Seattle is something they have been planning on.” she said. “It’s just unfortunate that the timing was such that it feeds into people’s fear and amplifies their concerns.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
