If you want to bypass the media and do your own research about the post office and the election, check out the Committee Hearing Examining the Finances and Operations of the United States Postal Service During COVID-19 and Upcoming Elections.

The hearing is a little over 2 hours, but here’s just one section of the hearing that I personally found to be helpful in sorting through all this information:

Senator Portman: “...there has been a lot of misinformation and I like getting to the facts. One of the facts that I have learned this morning is that you started 67 days ago and much of what we’ve been talking about in the media at least, including blue boxes and sorting machines, that happened before you got there and it was part of a plan.

I knew the former postmaster general came up through the ranks, not a political person at all...also helpful to know that you were appointed by the postal board of governors and that that’s a bipartisan group...and it was a unanimous selection. I guess it is based on your being a logistics expert...I also know that the long-term financial picture for the postal service is not pretty and by the way, that's been true for a long, long time. That's not really something that a postmaster general can do much about. It requires legislation. Senator Collins, Senator Feinstein have a bill that...provides for some reforms and additional funding. Everybody knows it's in trouble

...the immediate issue is to be sure that these elections work well and I appreciate the fact that you said this morning that's going to be your top priority between now and the election. Everyone of us wants to make sure that we have the ability to have an election that is well-run where people have their votes counted. Many will be using the postal service. Do you support absentee voting and do you support voting by mail?”

Postmaster Dejoy: “I’m going to vote by mail myself. I’ve voted by mail for number of years. The postal service will deliver every ballot and processes every ballot in time, that it receives.”

Senator Portman: “I appreciate that. So, you do support voting by mail.”

Postmaster Dejoy: “I do. I think the American public should be able to vote by mail and the postal service will support it. So I guess that's yes.

Senator Portman: “There's been a lot of news coverage about the postal service sending letters to 46 states...to let them know that they cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail will arrive on time. Is this due to a lack of funding, which is what many are saying or is it due to state laws on voting and the time it takes to turn around receiving and delivering ballots ?”

Postmaster Dejoy: “Senator, this was not a change from anything we have done in previous years. It was just more detailed with more emphasis put on it, partly because of the expected rise in vote by mail and also the pandemic. What the team set out to do is make the election boards, and eventually the American public aware of what our processes were and therefore to guarantee that if you follow these processes, there's no extra herculean efforts on our part to get your ballot in, which therefore mitigated the risk of it potentially not getting there.”

Senator Portman: “That's important to note, that this is something that has been a problem for years, including previous election. You sent out warnings in previous elections. I think the post office has to coordinate better with state election systems. I think state election systems have to coordinate better with the post office. In Ohio, as an example, the time frame between when you can cast your ballot and when it is postmarked, and you can get a ballot as late as Saturday before the election, to get that to the post office and back to you and then date stamped before Monday is very hard to do, logistically. I think that’s one of the things that your letter pointed out to these state systems, be sure sure and leave adequate time. Is that accurate?

Postmaster Dejoy: “Yes. First, it was not my letter, it was a letter from General Counsel, but yes, pointing out all the different variations that we could experience and how fast we could process. Yes, there are times we get the ballots...a ballot sent out the day before the election and it's almost impossible...in time for the election. This is a well-thought-out effort to safeguard the election......the general word around here is vote early.”

Below is a link to the full video and transcript. https://www.c-span.org/video/?474940-1/senate-hearing-us-postal-service