~a column by Colleen O’Brien
The more dis-, mis- and in-formation crowding the media these days regarding our general election in just under three months, the more unsettled the country becomes.
I sign off all news and read a good murder mystery which indeed keeps me engaged through the night.
But a new day dawns, and with it my iPhone dinging at me that I have “NEWS.”
I fall for it, click on it, and I am once more swamped; or perhaps that would be, in the swamp.
I learn from the President that we cannot have across-the-board mail-in ballots this pandemic year, despite the pandemic, because:
- kids rob mailboxes and sell stolen ballots down the block so other kids can mark them, vote for the “wrong” people [what does that mean?] and then send them in.
With this news at hand, I am shocked that I ever received my passport. In fact, this last time I applied for it, I did it all through the mail [no trip to any bureaucracy; they had streamlined it in the 20 years since I’d last sought one]. All I had to do was fill in the form, attach my old passport, a new photo of me, a check, put it all in the mailbox where I live, and lo and behold! I received a brand new passport!
Apparently, those kids down the block were not looting mailboxes during that exchange of significant money and important documents. . .
- nor when I lost my driver’s license and received a fresh one through the mail;
- nor when my Discover bill arrives each month, through the mail, and I open it, make sure all the charges are legit, write a check, return it all in an envelope to the mailbox, where it will soon wind up in the Discover mailbox far across the country;
- nor when my doctor told me I needed a medical test I could do at home; he had the kit sent to me in the mail. I did what it told me to do, and I mailed it back, via my own household mailbox – I didn’t even need to go to the physical post office building around the corner;
- nor when my husband died, when I asked, paid for and received copies of his death certificate through the mail.
As an editor, I receive and send people’s precious manuscripts of novels, memoirs, collections of essays through the mail every week.
I am flummoxed by the idea of mail-in ballots becoming “insecure” because they’re being mailed via the U.S. Postal Service. I am disbelieving when I hear that mail-in ballots will be forged, illegally printed or fraudulently signed. The whole smokescreen is a falsehood to help a re-election, a prevaricated disruption of one of the most precious rights – the ballot – that we prize as one of the oldest democracies in the world. In an era of pandemic when it’s either dangerous or merely problematic to be around lines of other people, voting by mail is being disparaged, lied about and therefore made suspect.
We do have a more than 200-year-old working postal service, although hampered right now by administration directive to cut hours, which means not all the mail gets to us in a timely manner. I think this in itself would be against the law, since interfering with mail delivery is a federal crime; perhaps in the category of “high crime”?
The postal service is a function of government, not a corporation. It does not have to turn a profit. It can be and has been subsidized from the federal government just as the President’s salary is.
The postal service has been hampered by the USPS Fairness Act of 2006 and by the latest appointment of postmaster general DeJoy, a big donor to this president’s political campaigns. DeJoy has cut overtime at a time when there are fewer mail carriers because of cases of COVID-19 and more mail, also because of COVID-19. And DeJoy has complicated the casing of mail to a point that mail is left each day undelivered. Photos of mail piled in bins in post office mailrooms accompany newspaper articles in Chicago and Philadelphia.
That this current non-functioning government is getting away with holding up our mail is causing problems long before the problems that will arise if we cannot have mail-in ballots. Already, people are complaining to the post office that they’re not getting their bills in time, so they wind up with late fees. Residents in Philadelphia have complained about not getting their worker’s compensation checks. A Philly mother of an autistic child reported to her post office that her son’s dosages are two weeks behind, and she has been forced to scout pharmacies across town for the drugs she has paid for delivery by mail.
Even Congress is complaining about receiving complaints, even though it’s their job to listen to and do something about them. The House has included funds for the post office to cover its overload of work, but the Senate is doing nothing about it, which includes refusing to include money for the post office in the relief bill. This is kind of a moot point, because they’ve left town without voting for any relief to anybody.
Although the USPS is a government agency, it operates as an independent business without direct taxpayer support, earning its money from selling stamps and sending mail. Can we do something to help? Or do we have to wait for our general election to be screwed up for us to get rid of the source of the screwing?
A democracy takes so much work! To rephrase a once-popular typing drill, Now is the time for all good folks [sic] to come to the aid of their country, in this case, the local post offices of their country.
Anyone concerned about the purposeful decline and fall of the postal service can call or email their U.S. senators, asking, at least for now during the time of coronavirus, that we get some help for the only familiar face we see daily, our mail carrier. Ask your senators (1) that funding for the USPS be included in the next relief package; (2) that new Postmaster General DeJoy be investigated regarding his fateful policies within the post office; (3) that a vote be taken on the USPS Fairness Act that has crippled the postal service budget for a decade and a half.
