Mailboxes – Getty Images
August 18, 2020
CLAIM: President Donald Trump is trying to rig the 2020 election by removing mailboxes so people can’t vote by mail.
VERDICT: FALSE. The removal — and replacement — of mailboxes is a constant part of U.S. Postal Service operations.
Democrats are trying to claim that President Trump is crippling the U.S. Postal Service because he opposes universal vote by mail, and that the removal of mailboxes in several locations throughout the country is evidence of that evil intention.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president, gave credence to that conspiracy theory on Saturday: “I wonder if you’re outside trying to hold down your mailboxes. They’re going around literally with tractor trailers picking up mailboxes. You oughta go online and check out what they’re doing in Oregon. I mean, it’s bizarre!” he said.
But there is nothing nefarious about removing mailboxes: Biden did it himself.
More specifically, the Obama-Biden administration removed 14,000 mailboxes over the five fiscal years ending in 2017, according to the U.S. Postal Service Inspector General.
More were likely removed before that. In 2009, cost-cutting was urgent at the postal service, with the postmaster general considering reducing delivery to five or even three days per week.
As the Blaze and others noted, mailboxes are removed from locations where they are underutilized, and either retired or relocated elsewhere.
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