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Thank you for shedding light on this important subject but there really needs to be a bigger ongoing spotlight with regards to this matter. The media needs to connect the dots between Republican intransigence, obstruction and their efforts to suppress the votes in the upcoming election. That’ll truly be where democracy dies in darkness should this maladministration get away with their plans to continue to cripple another beloved American institution. Next to the military, the Post Office is a long-standing institution that is written into our Constitution (Article 1, Section 8). It needs to be fully funded. Its that simple. If not, Republicans should be shown to be the obstructionists they are in not making this happen.
PS – My dad was an avid stamp collector. I think his love of the Post Office must’ve rubbed off on me.
I don’t see how crapping on the post office is a winning issue. Dems and Biden should defend the PO, and campaign on a plan to strengthen it.
Every SINGLE TIME a ‘save’ has been found for the Post Office in the last decade, the Republicans have passed yet ANOTHER ‘requirement’. They have done everything they can to destroy the PO. Bezos (love him or hate him) gave it a large boost and of course, Donnie had to rush into the breech tweeting and lying and starting a feud. It’s time to override these suckers and save the PO.
Vote-by-mail is an option that’s fraught with risks, but it’s probably worth including in the mix — as an option. “Risks”: at the top of the list, first, the US Postal Service is craptacularly unreliable. “The check is in the mail” doesn’t mean “You can rely on it”, at least not in the US. Second, vote-by-mail introduces multiple gaps in the chain-of-custody of ballots both while ballots are blank and after ballots have been filled in. Either of these risks is fatal. But let’s be realistic about current events: COVID-19 can also be fatal.
I live (and historically have lived) in a multiple-dwelling building. It’s common to see pieces of first-class mail addressed to other buildings left by residents on the counter in front of the mail boxes. It’s an informal sample, but it begins to transition from one person’s anecdote to events from which reliable conclusions can be drawn, and speaking of ‘reliable’ that word simply doesn’t apply to the US Postal Service. I wish it were otherwise, but it isn’t.
Given that the issues the Floyd protesters are addressing depend on adequate political representation relying on voting, I suggest that the post office is a worthy cause for protesters going forward.
Perhaps we can relieve them of the duty to deliver daily doses of subsidized business mailings so they have capacity for mail-in ballots.
This is absolutely intentional on Trump’s part. He knows, and has even said out loud, that mail in voting would destroy the Republican party. So, he does what he does best; he fucks things up. He works to destroy the post office to fuck up the election.
What a bunch of horseshit.
How’s spring in St. Petersburg this year?
Is the River Neva still frozen?
How’s life in your world of magical thinking and faith-based mail?
Re-read the article for some facts. Or perhaps read it for the first time before commenting.
Thanks for proving me correct.
The ballots would have counted if they had been delivered on time. Now, there was no way to legally count them.
If the ballots are postmarked in time, why can’t they be counted? That, in itself, sounds fishy.
That too is another lie. Just look at the number of Rethugliklan yahoos — some of the worst in the country! — who get elected in Washington state.
Defunding the Post Office is the same malfeasance, laundered to look like human error, as what just happened in Georgia.
“the protections include last-minute election-night sweeps of Postal Service facilities to search for ballots.”
Why is this a function of the election board? If I were a USPS supervisor I’d be doing it on my own.
So what about putting ballot applications and ballots themselves in specially colored envelopes so everyone from the local pulling them from boxes to the election official counting them can see right away which ones need to be handled priority?
And finally, yes I understand voting deadlines, but why is there a deadline on when those ballots are counted? Is it once again the need for teevee to be firstest with the mostest?
So, my takeaway from this article is if you are going to vote by mail, do it EARLY. As far as the GOP plan to destroy the USPS, there is only one remedy; vote blue!
Because at some point external deadlines come into play. If a new Congress begins on January 3rd, you need to have counted votes and certified a winner so you know who to send to the first day’s sessions.
And this is why I make a point of filling out my (California) ballot at home, in front of my computer so I can research things at my leisure, but once I’ve sealed the envelope I take in on election day and drop it in the box. As a bonus, I get one of those cool “I Voted” stickers…
It should be noted that Trump just appointed one of his lackeys as Postmaster General. Just in time fuck things up for November.
The Postal Service Is Steadily Getting Worse
This has been the plan all along… The GOP has known for many years that Vote by Mail was coming and they know that it means they will not be winning many elections.
Sorry - I understand the need for certification deadlines, but why, if the ballot envelopes are postmarked on Election Day, can’t they be counted up until the certification deadline? If December 10 is the certification date and clearly marked ballots turn up on December 9, why can’t they be counted?