The United States Postal Service has removed 711 sorting machines from its facilities ahead of November’s election, even though millions will rely on mailing their ballots to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The figure comes from documents submitted to a federal court in New York that were obtained by CNN. Although the removal of old machines is routine, alarms have been raised at the dramatic acceleration of removals this election year. By comparison, an average of just 388 machines were removed each year from 2015 through 2019. The decision to remove the machines was reportedly made before controversial Postmaster General Louis DeJoy started his post in June, and the removals stopped on Aug. 18 after DeJoy came under fire for changes he made to the postal service that have caused huge delays in service ahead of the Nov. 3 election.