If Trump continues to use the USPS to suppress the vote, there IS a solution

[Fantine]

Like many of you, I am distressed by the USPS' getting rid of 671 sorting machines which process 36,000 pieces of mail an hour (at NO economic savings), removing mailboxes, and freezing overtime. This effects not only the all important vote but also medical prescriptions, bills, checks, etc.

And the courts--in settling the lawsuits which are certainly being drawn up, and the investigations which are certainly beginning in Congress--must take it. The answer: Voting by email or fax---allowed for SOME voters in 26 states (7 of those allow fax only). This is a drastic solution--and I am suggesting it for 2020 only, due to a national emergency created by COVID, and voter suppression by the Trump administration.

Nineteen states + DC allow some voters to return ballots via email or fax: Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, and Washington.

Electronic Transmission of Ballots

 

[Albion]

As a point of information, various news sources have reported on the fact that Republicans are becoming alarmed at the efforts of the other party to suppress the vote when it is anticipated that the election outcome is likely to favor the Republican candidates otherwise.

 

[Dave G.]

A novel idea, just open the poles and go vote. We all go shopping right, just another stop while you're out. Masks are so great so wear one, vote, go home wash your hands.

 

[Hank77]

We all go shopping right,

No, we don't.

 

[Hank77]

I wouldn't trust email and many, if not most people don't have fax machines in their homes.

 

[Fantine]

You can use web platforms like gotfreefax to fax via email.

It is not ideal, but there has to be a way to allow people to vote safely during the pandemic.

I primarily use Wal-Mart pickup, Aldi Instacart and Amazon.

 

[hedrick]

Or the simpler approach: boxes at polling places where people can deposit their votes. Or you can hand it personally to a polling official. That what NJ is doing, though we'll also accept mail. And at least half the usual number of in-person voting places will be open.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

The removal of sorting machines and mail drop boxes is due to the fact that mail volume has reduced drastically since the internet, but also because the Postal Service has a $75 billion debet due to the pensions and health insurance they provide retired postal workers. It has nothing to do with suppressing mail-in-voting.

The PO is already funded through 2021, so it has nothing to do with this election.

However, the states like Washington which has mail-in-voting, have stated that it takes 5 - 10 years to set up a viable system. It can't be done in 5-6 weeks as the Democrats want and will blame Trump for opposing universal mail-in-voting this election.

 

[Fantine]

Machines that can process 36000 pieces of mail an hour are cost effective. If removed, the post office can't find resale buyers.
My state reduced their number of processing centers, closing the one in our city. That one action means it now takes an extra day to send or receive mail.
If the recipient of my mail.has seen closed processing centers, too, that will add yet another day.
Sort of like when you fly and have to go through multiple hubs.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Machines that can process 36000 pieces of mail an hour are cost effective. If removed, the post office can't find resale buyers.
My state reduced their number of processing centers, closing the one in our city. That one action means it now takes an extra day to send or receive mail.
If the recipient of my mail.has seen closed processing centers, too, that will add yet another day.
Sort of like when you fly and have to go through multiple hubs.

Cost effective if they're in use

If they're just sitting there due to the decrease in volume of letters, than getting rid of them is a smart move, not a political one.

 

[The Barbarian]

The two possible ways to benefit from interfering with mail-in votes:
1. some votes won't get counted, which would usually benefit Trump.
2. Undermine the legitimacy of the vote.

The removal of sorting machines and mail drop boxes is due to the fact that mail volume has reduced drastically since the internet

It seems odd indeed that the new director of the Post Office has reduced mail volume but claims he doesn't know how to keep service at present levels. Apparently, public outcry has deterred him from removing mail sorting machines until after the election.

All states have "mail-in voting" now. It's called "absentee ballots." And they already have the sytems in place for them.

 

[The Barbarian]

Cost effective if they're in use

If they're just sitting there due to the decrease in volume of letters, than getting rid of them is a smart move, not a political one.

No. You just spend less time on sorting. Whatever the volume, it's more efficient than hand-sorting.

 

[Fantine]

There are peak volume seasons for mail. Christmas, for example. The last three months of the year for catalogs and ads. Election season.

It isn't efficient to get rid of enough machines so that you can muddle through during the low peak months and say, "Now it will take 2-3 times as long for letters to be processed during peak season. Oh, well. Shrug." Imagine if your electric company said, "Oh, we only need enough generators for Sunday afternoons. On weekdays when businesses and factories are open, we will just have a bunch of brownouts. Oh, well. Shrug."

You have to be prepared to deliver the mail as efficiently during peak seasons as you can in a sleepy February.

 

[The Barbarian]

The long-term plan is the destruction of the Post Office. There are some really, really strong penalties for interfering with the mail,and that makes it harder for any wannabee dictator to monitor or control what people are mailing.

It turns out Trump's new PO boss might have already run afoul of those criminal statutes. A PO IG is now investigating. I wonder how long he'll last before Trump interferes.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

No. You just spend less time on sorting. Whatever the volume, it's more efficient than hand-sorting.

Not if the other machines are being used. They still need to be fed by a human being and it's probable that there are only so many human beings feeding the machines.

The internet has reduced letters and bills going through the mail greatly.

I know my wife who manages our bills, has been doing bill paying via the internet and almost never sends payments through the USPS.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

There are peak volume seasons for mail. Christmas, for example. The last three months of the year for catalogs and ads. Election season.

It isn't efficient to get rid of enough machines so that you can muddle through during the low peak months and say, "Now it will take 2-3 times as long for letters to be processed during peak season. Oh, well. Shrug." Imagine if your electric company said, "Oh, we only need enough generators for Sunday afternoons. On weekdays when businesses and factories are open, we will just have a bunch of brownouts. Oh, well. Shrug."

You have to be prepared to deliver the mail as efficiently during peak seasons as you can in a sleepy February.

Well even Christmas has been greatly reduced because people are using E-Cards instead of paper cards mailed through the USPS.

In fact, the drug stores and supermarkets have reduced their card displays because people are buy far less than they use to.

What's taking more time is partial post shipments as more people are buying on line rather than going to the brick and mortar stores.

Even FedEx uses the USPS when it makes sense.

We've had packages delivered to the local PO by FedEx, which has the PO make the local delivery.

 

[Albion]

The long-term plan is the destruction of the Post Office. .

And we know this...how?

 

[The Barbarian]

And we know this...how?

Republicans have been looking to do this for decades. The most effective attack was in 2006:

Amazingly, the policy section alludes to the inability of the USPS to fund retiree health and pension benefit obligations, without stating that it has the impossibly high statutory burden of pre-funding those obligations 75 years out, effectively having to pay today for future workers who have not yet been born.


No public agency or private company has any similar burden. It was placed on the Postal Service in the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act to deliberately cripple the agency at the behest of UPS and FedEx, its two major competitors on package delivery. There should be no confusion: Without this completely anomalous pre-funding mandate, the USPS would be a money-making operation, regardless of the rise of email.
Trump Moves to Gut the Post Office

 

[Albion]

Republicans have been looking to do this for decades.

So...it's a hunch.

 

[grasping the after wind]

No, we don't.

Yeah, I don't do much shopping either but I certainly go to vote. I consider it a privilege' as well as a duty. I consider shopping an unnecessary inconvenience. I do think that anyone that feels afraid over personally appearing at the polls due to health concerns ought to be able to mail in a vote on election day so that all of us are working with the exact same information available to us when we cast our votes. It would slightly delay knowing the results of the vote but being as informed and as safe as possible ought to be a priority over how quickly we know the results.