FAIRMONT, W.Va. – The U.S. Postal Service is considering closing post offices across the country, sparking concerns ahead of an anticipated surge of mail-in ballots in the 2020 elections.

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin said he has received numerous reports from post offices and colleagues about service cuts or looming closures in West Virginia and elsewhere, prompting him to send a letter to Postmaster General Louis Dejoy asking for an explanation.

One of the locations facing these possible shutdowns in north central West Virginia includes the East Fairmont USPS. The president of Clarksburg, West Virginia’s local Postal Union, Sinikka Melvin, said that it will take every single person of the public concerned to reach out to their senators to fight this.

“These cutbacks, these delay in hours, the delaying of the mail, it does affect all of them, and they are all not happy with it,” said Melvin. “We’ve already been stressed enough due to the coronavirus, so why are we going to force them now to crowd into a lobby, when there are less hours for them to access their postal service. this is there postal service it should not be limited to them. everything is being affected by these and we need to put a stop to it.”

Local USPS are trying to use the #SaveThePostOffice to have their voices be heard at a larger volume.

Several local postal offices are already seeing an effect like cut backs on hours throughout the day, and cuts on the amount staff members.

Melvin, along with other local USPS, are still waiting to hear back from the state about what will happen next.