E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSFrom Barrow, Alaska, to Key West, Fla., the mail always gets through. But in the days leading up to Election Day, mailed ballots absolutely must get through, or the nation's electoral process would be thrown into havoc.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
A pre-Nov. 6 disruption of mail delivery caused by the U.S. Postal Service's fiscal crisis would be a fiasco for voters and election officials.
In states that rely largely or entirely on vote-by-mail or absentee ballots, a pre-Nov. 6 disruption of mail delivery caused by the U.S. Postal Service’s fiscal crisis would be a fiasco for voters and election officials.
With partisan battles already under way on voter eligibility across the nation over fears of voter fraud and charges of vote suppression, the last thing the upcoming election needs is another procedural snafu.
Washington and Oregon voters cast their ballots entirely by mail or at local drop boxes, and in California’s June primary, nearly two out of three voters cast their ballots by mail. Even in states where voters still show up in person to vote at their local precinct, absentee voting by mail is common.
In order for the election to take place, the mail must get delivered promptly – no matter how dire the Postal Service’s fiscal crisis is – and it’s dire indeed. In the second quarter of its fiscal year (January to March) the Postal Service lost $3.2 billion. Congressional postal experts will be scrutinizing its third-quarter financial statement on Aug. 9 to see if the distress has worsened. While the Senate has passed a reform bill to keep the Postal Service afloat, the House hasn’t yet acted.
Urging the House to move, one of the Senate reform leaders, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said Wednesday “Only one week from now, the Postal Service will default on a $5.5 billion payment to Treasury – further eroding the confidence of the millions of customers and businesses” that rely on mail to get delivered.
USPS spokesman David Partenheimer said Thursday, “Default on the retiree health benefits prepayment due August 1 will have no effect on mail operations, including election mail. The Postal Service will continue to meet its obligation to provide universal service to the American people. Our priority is to continue to pay employees and suppliers on a timely basis and avoid any disruption in mail processing or delivery.”
While carrying out a plan to shrink its workforce by 13,000 and shut down some processing facilities, the Postal Service did say in May that "Due to the volume of high-priority mail predicted for the election and holiday mailing seasons, no consolidating activities will be conducted from September through December of 2012." Partenheimer confirmed Thursday this is still the case.
He said the Postal Service will continue to provide information on its consolidations to election officials and "explain why they will not adversely affect delivery of election-related mail." He added that the Postal Service has created an Election Mail Task Force that will facilitate the timely processing and delivery of election mail.
Nonetheless, state election officials are keeping a wary eye on the Postal Service’s fiscal crisis.
Dave Ammons, a spokesman for Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed, said Thursday, "We, like Oregon, vote by mail, so naturally we are watching the (Postal Service) situation closely, and with some natural anxiety. We have been part of a national group of election administrators who have been in close contact. USPS has assured us that they will continue to give a very high priority to ballots sent to and fro. "
In Washington there are 3.7 million registered voters, and ballots go in the mail by no later than Oct. 19 and must be postmarked by Election Day in order to be counted.
The message from election officials: Do not wait until Election Day; mail your ballot as early as possible, just in case there is any slowing of mail delivery. Or voters can drop their ballots at one of the county-operated drop boxes; there are at least two drop locations in each of the state’s 39 counties.
In Oregon voters must get their completed ballots back to the local election officials by Election Day.
Even if the Postal Service crisis has no impact on this year’s balloting, shrinkage of the Postal Service raises longer-term questions of how smoothly and how confidently voters might be able to move in larger numbers to voting by mail. No mail delivery could mean no voting.
Leave a Comment:
Actually the USPS Union has been trying to whip this up. More reasons to shelve it and enter the 21st Century.
For more than twenty years there has been an ongoing agenda to make the USPS a privatized entity. To do this they need to make it appear insolvent. This is done by preventing any meaningful postal rate increase. Placing unnecessary restrictions certain categories of mail. And finally burdening it with questionable debt obligations. (About one quarter the cost of each stamp is in this category and if this were eliminated the Postal service would be solvent and could even REDUCE THE COST OF A FIRST CLASS STAMP)
Yes there is an ongoing reduction in letter type mail due to the Internet but this can be more than compensated for by package delivery volume increase due to the same Internet.
By privatizing and selling the USPS for pennies on the Dollar, hundreds of billions of tax payer dollars will be in the pockets of those walking away arm in arm with the politicians who helped them set up the Post Office as a vehicle for a venture capitalist takeover.
SEMPER FI
M/SGT USMC RETIRED (30 YEARS TOTAL SERVICE)
AND
ELECTRONICS TECH USPS RETIRED (14 YEARS TOTAL SERVICE)
The Postal Service is not going broke...
The Republicans have "Broke" the postal service...
Republican Politicians want too destroy the Postal Union and then farm the jobs out too "Privately Owned Companies".
Then the New Private Owners will pay "Kick Backs" the the Republican Politicians for their help in DESTROYING the Post Office.
These Republican Politicians are no better than human waste that is flushed down the toilet daily..
Time too flush the Waste in Washington so America can once again be Great for everyone and not just the 1%...
Despite whatever views anyone has on the Post Office and its future, the fact remains that if it were to no longer function, the impact would be quite noticeable, and the very people who called for its demise would be whining the loudest. People still actually do mail things, and the rates are a hell of a lot cheaper than any other private "alternatives" such as UPS, FedEx, etc. I actually receive and read paper magazines, and having tried the digital versions of a number of them, still prefer the paper ones. Taking my iPad to the throne room is just not an acceptable option, much as I love it.
Curry, poor journalism is just poor journalism. Post Office is fine. Your professional standing is suffering.
If Tom Carper is truly a reformer, he might consider a cutback in services to residential homes to 3 days a week. There are MANY other ways to get the USPS deficit under control, but that would take some action which is certainly not going to come from the Senate, House, or even the Pres. The postal service is a financial disaster and the leadership of that organization must take direction from another disaster organization which is our beloved congress. Why doesn't somebody in Washington bite the bullet and get the USPS on a fiscally responsible track. Could it be that this is an election year (not really). It's probalbly the same old symptom from Washington to do nothing except spend,spend,spend.
Sounds like the USPS needs its own "austerity" measures. Doing away with Saturday delivery could be a start. While it would be very inconvenient after all these years of having it, people would adapt.
FedEx and UPS are doing very well...very profitable as of right now. It's not as though a letter/package delivery can't work in the private sector, these companies are proving it can be done. All that USPS is proving is that once the government is running ANY industry, it eventually starts to fail.
Your not mentioning that FedEx & UPS siphon their unprofitable business on the USPS. And , the USPS must take the business.
Hey, If every "private business" could get someone to take their non-profitable business??? Life would be good for them
Wow, the Postal Service became unsustainable the year collective bargaining was put in placed. People are saying that if we charge a dollar or more for first class, charge for junk mail at the same rate as first class all would be well! This has nothing to do with wages that don't compete with the Private sectors equal. Pensions that are so over the Top that they are not even currently funded? Employees at the counter that move slower than a snail drying up on the sidewalk. The ones who when the lines are the longest close their station so as to not miss that all to important break, yet no one else is around to replace them. No! That can't possibly have any effect.
If the Post Office was run like it is now and owned by the Private Sector it would of closed it doors decades ago! Too little, Too Late!
Here's the facts for you. Before 2006 they had a profit. After they did not.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41024.pdf
The pdf has the facts if want to try something new.
The Pensions are overpaid in both CSRS & FERS.
http://www.opm.gov/retire/pubs/handbook/C022.pdf
The retirement is roughly 60% of their top 3 average years salary after 30 years of service + 55 age.
Hardly a golden wreath of wealth.
Scar, I won't split hairs. However your docs. don't show prior to 2004. The retirement handbook only showed Military retirees. 60% depends on what they retire at. 100k per year equates to 60K retirement. How much did the employee contribute? What Health benefits are included? Maybe more Gold there than you realize.
To get 100 k per year , one would have to be a postmaster. A clerk after 30 years , averages around 54k pay or 31 k retirement. Now , we could look at the politicians retirements for REAL WASTE. Or the public officials in public retirements in some communities. Amount paid into depends on the plan the employee is under. FERS or CSRS. In health care they are FEHB .They can put additional funds in a TSP , which is like a additional 401K. My sister is a retiree. Rich she is not.
Collective bargaining started in 1971 . About the same time they pulled taxes out of the mix. I will search for further information since that date for you.
Can it be operated more efficiently? Sure it can. But every attempt to do so is opposed by some interest group. What do you expect from a business run by politicians????
I concur. If you go on the SSI site, their FYI spot says POTUS, Senators, Congressman and the Justices all pay into SSI. Fails to mention they don't need it with their Fat Pensions and Healthcare programs. I really feel if they had to live on SSI, and Medicare these programs would not be in trouble. If they had to walk in all of our shoes, maybe, just maybe a lot of what we are worried about this Election Year would not even be an issue.