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The bilingual online survey asked El Pasoans about their experiences with mail delivery delays and concerns about the future of the USPS. Eight hundred and seventy-nine individuals responded to the survey.

The survey is one aspect of Congresswoman Escobar’s broader effort to respond to recent attacks on the USPS by President Trump and Postmaster General DeJoy who have made major operational changes to the USPS during the coronavirus pandemic which have contributed to a dramatic increase in delayed and undelivered mail.

“In Congress, I took swift action to provide the USPS – a pillar of our democracy  –  the assistance needed to navigate through the coronavirus pandemic,” said Congresswoman Escobar. “The results of my survey and the countless testimonials of seniors and veterans who depend on the Postal Service illustrate how essential this critical service is to El Paso households and businesses, the extent of the delays, and how the changes pushed by President Donald Trump and his mega-donor Postmaster General Louis DeJoy have undermined confidence in the institution and our democracy ahead of the November general election.”

Congresswoman Escobar continued, “This is unacceptable. Postmaster General DeJoy has aided and abetted President Trump in his crusade to erode trust in the postal service and disenfranchise voters. He must resign immediately, and the Senate must support the Delivering for America Act to undo the damage.”

Findings of the survey include:

• 57.04% of respondents have personally experienced delays in mail or know someone that has experienced delays in their mail.
• 73.28% of respondents don’t support the recent overtime and service reductions implemented by Postmaster General DeJoy
• 22.21% of respondents want Congress to pass meaningful legislation that provides the USPS with critically needed funding, while 21.64% want greater transparency and accountability with Congress and the American people on USPS operational changes.
• 41.89% of respondents said the most important USPS service is that it ensures safe elections by sustaining absentee ballots and mail-in voting.
• 55.86% of respondents said that the changes made by the Trump administration undermined their faith in the USPS and/or in the elections.

The full report is available here.

Background:

On August 13, Congresswoman Escobar joined House Democrats in sending a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy calling for the reversal of the changes.

On August 18, Congresswoman Escobar conducted an oversight visit to the USPS El Paso Processing and Distribution Center.

On August 19, Congresswoman Escobar met with USPS employees to discuss how these changes have impacted their jobs.

On August 22, Congresswoman Escobar voted for H.R. 8015, the Delivering for America Act, which provides $25 billion in emergency funding to the Postal Service and prohibits the agency from implementing any changes to operations or levels of service it had in place on January 1, 2020.

On September 8, Congresswoman Escobar met with USPS El Paso Region Postmaster Daniel Reyes to discuss how these changes have impacted El Paso and USPS employee concerns.