Where’s My Mail?

Americans React to Chaotic Leadership

By:  Mildred Robertson 

                                                                                                    

Many Americans will turn to the U.S. Postal Service this fall to cast their vote during the most dangerous pandemics the world has ever known. The Coronavirus Pandemic has sickened 5.6 million U.S. citizens and 174,293 have lost their lives as of August 18, 2020. Times such as these have historically caused Americans to come together to fight a common enemy, putting aside partisanship, and in some instances even prejudices and racism. Americans leaders have commonly stepped forward to summon our better angels as we work for the collective good of the country.

 Not so, however, in 2020. Our current administration has instead worked to divide us even further, casting around to find a villain besides himself upon whom to lay blame for the unchecked spread of Covid-19 within our borders. America is experiencing the collapse of our social and financial foundations, the demise of our school system, the overburdening of our health-care system and the total lack of vision regarding how to emerge from the horror that is the untethered pandemic sweeping our nation. Not only is there a lack of leadership in addressing these pressing national concerns, but an attack on the nation’s infrastructure that could help mitigate some of the issues we face.  

 From the lack of an organized effort to obtain the personal protective equipment (PPE) needed by the health care industry to safely treat infected patients to the hobbling of the U.S. Post Office in order to discourage absentee voting during a pandemic requiring physical distancing, this administration has acted as an adversary to rather than a proponent for America’s survival and recovery from this pandemic. 

 As legislators grapple with a gridlocked congress, the House continues to attempt to hammer out a compromise to provide a much needed stimulus check to Americans struggling during this pandemic.  A key component of their negotiations is an attempt to provide $25 billion in emergency funding to the U.S. Postal Service so that it can meet its traditional obligations and another $3.6 billion for state and local election officials struggling to staff polling places and process mail ballots which are expected to increase due to the pandemic.

The administration is at odds with the House as it struggles to provide relief to Americans suffering from furloughs, job loss, sickness and death. The administration has instituted draconian measures to slow down the mail, ripping mail sorters from mail rooms across America, and spiriting away mail boxes in minority communities, in hopes, it is believed, to discourage these individuals from voting by mail. These voter suppression tactics, if successful, would result in long lines and would possibly decrease the number of individuals voting due to fear of exposure to Covid-19.

Citizens across the nation have already experienced slow mail service as the USPS officials eliminate overtime in the midst of a worker shortage due to the pandemic. As quarantined Americans increasingly depend upon the USPS for everything from medicine to toilet paper, the post office is experiencing staff shortages due to the virus. Postal workers complain that mail is left sitting on the docks, and postal customers tell stories of late delivery of medication, and small business shipments and correspondence arriving 3 weeks after postmark. The strategy behind these tactics is to discourage mail-in voting. It is the president’s position that mail-in ballots will result in voter fraud, though there is no data to support that claim.

 Many battleground states, including Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin currently require that mail ballots be received by Election Day in order to be counted, regardless of when they were mailed. By slowing the mail many voters who mailed their ballots in a timely manner might be disenfranchised. Even if the states decide to accept ballots postmarked by November 3, it is possible that uncertainty about the election outcome could be established. By slowing delivery of mail-in ballots it is more likely that a clear winner could not be announced election night. In other words, a candidate who was in the lead based upon Election Day in-person votes could challenge the legitimacy of mail ballots, even though a majority of people chose to use that method due to the pandemic. This claim could be made even if their ballots were mailed timely. Trump has already indicated that he will challenge the legitimacy of mail-in ballots despite the pandemic.

Trump’s attack on USPS is his second attempt to strengthen his political position with the approaching election. He first floated the idea of postponing the election due to Covid-19 before finally suggesting that only votes that are tallied on Election Day be counted.  His suggestion was met with immediate push back from Americans from both sides of the aisle.  The attack on USPS has fared no better. In new developments, under extreme pressure from citizen protesters and the legislature, the Trump appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced today that changes to USPS processes and procedures will be halted until after the November election.

It is clear that when citizens collectively raise their voices, government responds. November 3^rd we have the option to loudly declare our desire for leadership that responds to the needs of every American citizen. We can demand an end to chaos by voting for stable leadership that comprehends democratic governance and understands that America is a nation ruled by the people.