U.S. Representative Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, sent a letter Friday urging the U.S. Postal Service to immediately reopen a Hale County post office after the agency closed the facility last Wednesday.
In the letter to U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner and Postal Service Senior Vice President of Facilities and Infrastructure Benjamin Kuo, Sewell demanded that the agency reopen the Akron Post Office, which she said closed abruptly and without warning to residents.
The closure came 16 days before the office’s previously announced closure date of October 30 and just weeks before the November 3 midterm elections.
“Residents arrived to find the doors chained shut and their P.O. boxes dismantled, leaving many without clear instructions on how to access their mail at the Moundville location,” Sewell’s office said Friday.
In her letter, Sewell raised concerns about conflicting information sent to Akron residents about the closure. She warned that the abrupt closure could jeopardize residents’ ability to receive and send absentee ballots in time to be counted.
The Postal Service cited failed lease negotiations in its announcement of the office’s closure. However, according to Sewell’s office, she received documentation that the property owner agreed in writing to maintain the office’s existing rental rate until 2031.
The property owner also denied issuing a notice to vacate that the Postal Service cited as justification for the closure.
County absentee election managers must receive mailed absentee ballot applications by October 27. Completed absentee ballots returned by mail must arrive by noon November 3, while voters must hand-deliver their ballots by the close of business November 2. Sewell argued that the closure leaves voters with “little time to navigate the disruption.”
“By shuttering the Post Office without warning, USPS has jeopardized residents’ ability to receive and return their absentee ballots in time to be counted,” Sewell wrote. “The possibility that eligible voters could be disenfranchised because of USPS’s unilateral decision to close this facility, without adequate notice or a plan to protect election mail, is wholly unacceptable.”
Sewell also questioned whether the Postal Service followed federal requirements governing the suspension or discontinuation of postal services.
In her letter, Sewell requested that the Postal Service:
- Immediately reopen the Akron Post Office.
- Explain the circumstances surrounding the closure and provide documentation supporting the agency’s stated reasons.
- Develop a plan to restore mail services at the Akron location through at least October 30, the previously announced closure date.
- Detail the steps it is taking to protect, process and deliver all election mail, including ballots that were at the facility when it closed.
- Provide documentation demonstrating compliance with federal regulations governing the suspension or discontinuance of postal services.
“The residents of Akron, Alabama, have the right to access their mail, including but not limited to Social Security checks, medications, bills, and ballots so they can exercise their sacred right to vote in the upcoming election,” Sewell wrote.
Sewell previously addressed the post office closure last Wednesday, raising concerns about its impact on residents’ ability to return absentee ballots in time for the election.
“I am demanding that the USPS immediately reopen this facility, and provide a full report on how it will protect, process and deliver every absentee ballot on time,” Sewell said. “USPS must understand that this failure is unacceptable and that we will take action to ensure that Akron residents are not denied access to their mail or their vote—full stop.”
Sewell called on the Postal Service to respond to her letter by Monday.
