Island demonstrations in support of the Post Office

A handful of demonstrators in support of the United States Postal Service (USPS) went to the Center and Heights post offices this week to show support for the service and its employees.

Organized by Islander Paulann Sheets, there were few demonstrators outside the Center Post Office on Tuesday, which Ms. Sheets said was because of the lack of time to get fully organized. She said the union representing USPS employees had called for customer support nationwide on Monday, and she wanted to do her part.

At times, she said, she was the lone demonstrator at the Center P.O. on Tuesday, but on Wednesday a handful of people showed up to show support at the Heights P.O.

They dispersed buttons and pins, which Ms. Sheets had ordered, that said “Save the Post Office.”

President Donald Trump has repeatedly called the U.S.P.S “a joke” and a “disaster,” and said multiple times that voting by mail in the Nov. 3 election will result in widespread fraud.

A study by the nonprofit Electronic Registration Information Center — an organization with a bi-partisan board of directors of state officials in charge of elections — found less than 400 possible cases of fraud out of more than 14 million votes cast by mail in the 2016 and 2018 general elections, or 0.0025%.

In addition, the Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has been overseeing cutbacks to sorting machines and outdoor blue Post Office boxes in the run-up to the election in November.

Ms. Sheets said, in general, Islanders she encountered were in support of the demonstrations, with people “honking their horns on 114 in the Center, and giving us lots of thumbs up.”

Several people “disparaged us,” Ms. Sheets said. A man came up to her and said, “You need to watch Fox News. That’s the truth.”

And a “very angry” woman approached her and said, “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Ms. Sheets replied, “Certainly not.”