USPS mailboxes return to Goleta post office

GOLETA, Calif. - Two USPS drop-off mailboxes were returned to the street outside the post office on Patterson Avenue in Goleta Monday evening.

Congressman Salud Carbajal announced earlier that day on Twitter that the drop-off boxes would be returned sometime Monday.

The tweet was posted around 5:51 p.m. The boxes were found back in their place by 6:45 p.m.

This announcement follows a weekend of questions after residents noticed that the box had been removed without notice.

The removal of this USPS box comes while President Donald Trump has been facing off with Democrats over funding for the Postal Service. Democrats accusing the President and Post Master General of trying to silence millions of voters by removing mail drop-off boxes nationwide, thus making it more difficult to turn in mail-in absentee ballots.

In response, USPS announced Sunday they would not remove any more boxes over the next 90 days.

While we do not yet know exactly why the USPS box was removed from the Patterson post office, one postal worker said there had been an issue with mail being stolen or vandalized after it was placed in the box.