Protesters gather outside of US postmaster general's home and stage a 'noise demonstration' over his cuts to USPS

Connor Perrett AUGUST 15,2020

A USPS mail worker wearing a mask is seen driving between houses while it rains as the state of New Jersey on August 13, 2020. Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Protesters on Saturday gathered outside the Washington, DC home of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and marched through his neighborhood to slam his handling of the postal service.

DeJoy, a former Republican donor, has made cost-cutting measures that protesters argue undermine the USPS and risk states' expansion of mail-in-voting due to COVID-19.
President Donald Trump on Thursday, a staunch opponent of main-in-voting, said he was withholding bailout funds to the postal service in an effort to intentionally sabotage main-in ballots though he later walked back the comments.

Protesters on Saturday gathered outside the Washington, DC, home of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over claims his cost-cutting measures are slowing down mail delivery and could adversely impact mail-in-voting in November.

According to WUSA, organizers from a group called Shut Down DC organized the "noise demonstration" outside DeJoy's home in Kalorama Park, a community in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington.

"DeJoy has fired or reassigned much of the existing USPS leadership and ordered the removal of mail sorting machines that are fundamental to the functioning of the postal service. Meanwhile, mail delivery is slowing down under other decisions made by DeJoy, such as eliminating overtime for postal workers," the group said in a statement, according to WUSA.

Videos of the protest shared on Twitter early Saturday showed demonstrators chanting "stand up, fight back" and similar phrases, banging on drums, and using other noisy items like pots and pans to cause a stir outside the postmaster general's condo.

—Stephanie Ramirez (@RamirezReports) August 15, 2020
—Melissa Barlow (@LiteraryMouse) August 15, 2020

The protesters also marched through nearby streets.
—Melissa Barlow (@LiteraryMouse) August 15, 2020

The protest comes amid growing concern over DeJoy's cost-cutting measures to the postal service, including the elimination over overtime and late trips that have created service disruptions and delays in mail delivery in parts of the country, as Business Insider's Grace Panetta explained.

Earlier this year, the Postal Service Board of Governors appointed DeJoy, a North Carolina-based shipping and logistics executive and former Trump donor with no experience with the postal service, to his current position. His moves, which come amid a years-long financial struggle for the USPS and has been further exacerbated by the novel coronavirus, have caused concern that USPS will have difficulty handling a surge of mail-in-ballots in November.

President Donald Trump has also opposed assisting the post office amid his repeated claims that mail-in-voting could lead to widespread voter fraud, Business Insider previously reported. On Thursday, he said he would reject $25 billion in emergency funding for the USPS in an effort intentionally sabotage mail-in voting. The president later changed his tune and said he would agree to sign a bill that included funds for the USPS.


There is little to no evidence to back up Trump's claims that mail-in-ballots would cause widespread fraud.


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