UPDATE, 0925 GMT:

Barack Obama on Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine mail-in voting and November’s election:

What we’ve seen in a way that is unique to modern political history is a President who is explicit in trying to discourage people from voting.

What we’ve never seen before is a President say: ‘I’m going to try to actively kneecap the postal service to [discourage] voting and I will be explicit about the reason I’m doing it’. That’s sort of unheard of.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The US Postal Service warns that it may not be able to meet deadlines for delivering mail-in ballots for November’s election, as Donald Trump starves it of funding and lies about postal voting and fraud.

Last month Thomas Marshall, USPS’s general counsel, informed states and the District of Columbia that “certain deadlines for requesting and casting mail-in ballots are incongruous with the Postal Service’s delivery standards”.

He asked the states to require that residents request ballots at least 15 days before an election; otherwise, there is “a risk that ballots requested near the deadline under state law will not be returned by mail in time to be counted”.

Marshall said only Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Rhode Island should not have any difficulty in handling the large volume of mail-in ballots expected during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Trump and his inner circle have held up additional funding to USPS. The White House has rejected a $2 trillion Coronavirus rescue package, proposed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, which includes $10 billion for the Service.

Trump mega-donor Louis DeJoy, appointed as Postmaster General in May, has imposed severe cutbacks on services and refused any overtime to ensure adequate delivery of mail. Last week he dismissed 23 senior executives as part of a declared “reorganization”, fueling concerns that he is stripping USPS of essential expertise.

Postal Service workers and union officials are warning that mail sorting machines around the country are being removed without any official explanation. But DeJoy has not responded to the request of a group of Secretaries of State for a meeting.

See TrumpWatch, Day 1,303: Trump — I’m Crippling Postal Service to Stop Mail-In Voting

Celina Stewart of the League of Women Voters explained, “The slowdown is another tool in the toolbox of voter suppression. That’s no secret. We do think this is a voter-suppression tactic.”

Vanita Gupta, a Justice Department official in the Obama Administration and and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, cited “the weaponization of the US Postal Service for the President’s electoral purposes”: “It’s completely outrageous that the Postal Service is in this position.”

Analysts and legislators noted the collateral damage of Trump and DeJoy’s efforts, with essential payments and services held up. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois wrote:

USPS’s inspector general said on Friday that she has begun an investigation into Postmaster General DeJoy.

The inquiry is expected to consider DeJoy’s changes in operations and his finances, including ownership of stock in a Postal Service contractor and options in a competitor.

Some States Respond; USPS Halts Removal of Mailboxes

Some states responded to the immediate crisis with steps to ensure that mail-in ballots are not excluded.

“We have asked the Legislature to change Michigan law to allow ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive within a certain window to be counted,” said Tracy Wimmer, spokeswoman for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar asked a court to allow eligible ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received by the following Friday.

“The letter made clear that the Postal Service is experiencing significant delays with mail delivery and expects this problem to continue through Election Day,” Boockvar said. “The Department’s action is simple in its goal — to prevent the disenfranchisement of eligible Pennsylvania voters.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted:

And New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said the majority of voting in the state will be by mail. He announced that he will sign an executive order calling for all registered voters to get a ballot beginning October 5 ,along with a prepaid return envelope.

Meanwhile, pushback from journalists and residents halted the widespread removal of postal boxes.

The effort came to light through the reporting of Maritsa Georgiou in Montana.

By Friday evening, protests against the removal not only halted the Montana plans — with GOP Senator Steve Daines, facing a tough re-election battle, supporting the protesters — but stopped them across the country.

Trump’s “Abuse of Power”

Democratic politicians and some Republican colleagues warned that Trump, trailing Democratic nominee Joe Biden in polls, is trying to undermine the vote.

Pelosi and Schumer issued a joint statement:

The President’s comments today affirm that no patriotic tradition is immune from his abuse of power. The President made plain that he will manipulate the operations of the post office to deny eligible voters the ballot in pursuit of his own re-election.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, the GOP’s 2012 Presidential nominee, said, “I don’t know of any evidence that voting by mail would increase voter fraud.”

He said it is “essential” that people are able to vote.

That’s more important than even the outcome of the vote. We have got to preserve the principle of democracy or the trend we’re on is going to continue to get worse.

“When politicians attack a judicial system, attack a voting system…attack a free press, these things threaten the foundation upon which not only our own democracy rests but democracies around the world rest.