The machines USPS is removing from distribution centers can sort more than 36,000 pieces of mail per hour. Here’s how they work.

Mail-sorting machines used by the United States Postal Service (USPS) have been dismantled and removed from distribution centers around the country, according to postal workers. They told Motherboard that at least 19 machines were removed without explanation. An internal USPS letter from June included a plan to remove hundreds of more mail-sorting machines this year.

Postal Workers Union members and some Democratic politicians have expressed concerns about changes to the USPS under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major Trump donor who started his position this summer. President Trump has attacked the USPS and claimed that voting by mail has a high rate of fraud, without evidence. 

The USPS has more eyes on it than ever with continued mail-in voting forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s how the sorting machines being removed from distribution centers work.