League Sends Letter Urging Postal Service to Continue Longstanding Practice of Placing Voter Registration Forms in Postal Offices

Amid reports that local post offices in the Houston, Texas, area declined to place voter registration forms in their lobbies, citing a “directive” from the Postmaster General, the League of Women Voters of the United States and the League of Women Voters of Texas sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy demanding that the Postal Service continue their longstanding practice of displaying and providing voter registration forms and postcards in post offices across the country.  

“Here in Texas -- and other states that don’t have online voter registration -- the practice of placing voter registration forms in post offices needs to be allowed,” said Grace Chimene, president of the League of Women Voters of Texas. “We need to be able to tell voters where they can easily access a voter registration form. This change should not be happening now, while voter registration options are limited because of the pandemic. This is too important.” 

The League of Women Voters will continue watching across the country as this practice may be widespread, given that League members in Texas were informed this new policy was a “directive.” The League has alerted members of Congress that serve on the Senate Homeland Security and House Oversight Committees, as well as Representatives serving the Houston area, as we look for all available remedies to ensure access to voter registration through post offices. The League is also a plaintiff in National Urban League v. DeJoy, which seeks to ensure that any “operational directives” at the US Postal Service are approved through appropriate administrative channels with notice and comment from stakeholders and interested parties.  

See attached for the full letter.