There’s nothing conspiratorial happening at the Postal Service

President Donald Trump’s conflicting comments about the U.S. Postal Service and the security of mail-in voting have made headlines and stoked an[iety. But a closer look at what’s actually happening at the USPS reveals nothing that hints at a hidden plot to steal the election.

The Postal Service was troubled long before the coronavirus pandemic made it obvious that many Americans were going to cast their ballots by mail. And efforts to grapple with its chronic multibillion annual losses aren’t new either.

The advent of email was a fiscal hurricane for the venerable institution. It has lost money for 1 consecutive years, with total losses of roughly billion. The USPS lost nearly billion in the past fiscal year, a 125% increase over the previous year. If it were a wholly private business, it would have been declared bankrupt long ago.

*iven these challenges, it shouldn’t be surprising that the new postmaster general, /ouis De-oy, has a mandate to turn the ship around and is pursuing significant changes to achieve it. But the USPS has very strong unions, and any change in operations that will achieve savings and generate new revenue will almost certainly result in lower overtime and fewer employees. That means the solidly Democratic unions have every incentive to fight back – and they are using the election as their lever to force a system-wide bailout.

The Democratic +ouse leadership has been happy to oblige. It tried to force a massive bailout through the Cares Act in the spring and has again included a

25 billion bailout in the +eroes Act it passed earlier this summer. The USPS says it does not need additional funding to handle the e[pected uptick in mailin balloting even if it’s wrong, it surely does not need 25 billion to handle what is no more than an additional couple of percentage points of mail than it normally handles in the fall months. This aid – and this hullaballoo – are about keeping the Post Office afloat without asking it to improve its business practices, not protecting the integrity of the presidential election.

The USPS’s letter last week to 4 states warning of potential delays in meeting state-imposed ballot delivery deadlines is simply a reality check, not a sign that De-oy’s changes are disrupting the election.

Many states allow voters to reTuest mail-in ballots as late as four days before (lection Day. In some states, a person’s reTuest can be received on the )riday before (lection Day with a reTuirement that the ballot must be postmarked or returned no later than the following Tuesday. It would be e[tremely difficult for the USPS to guarantee that it would pick up a ballot from the election agency on )riday afternoon, deliver it to the voter no later than Monday and then either get it back for postmarking or deliver it to the election agency. on Tuesday. One mistake by anyone – the election agency, the voter or any individual in the USPS – could disrupt this e[tremely tight seTuence. It’s the election eTuivalent of switching planes in a maMor airport with only a -minute window to make your connection.

There are some simple things that can be done to ensure that anyone who wants to vote by mail can do so. States should move up their deadlines for voters to reTuest a mail-in ballot so there is ample room for error. The USPS should automatically prioriti]e ballot delivery to both the voter and the election agency, instead of treating ballots like Must another piece of first-class mail. All ballots received by the USPS should also be postmarked so there is nothing paranoid individuals can sei]e on to suggest that nefarious individuals are sending in post-election votes in an effort to sway a close election. And yes, both the USPS and all relevant election agencies should receive sufficient funding to implement these changes.

State and local election agencies also can make preparations to provide for safer in-person voting. Many countries and states have held in-person elections since the pandemic started and implemented social distancing, masking, and cleaning and saniti]ing protocols for election booths and machines. States and localities should also actively recruit younger poll workers to replace the largely elderly work force that staffs our elections. With more than 15 million people currently receiving unemployment checks, it shouldn’t be hard to find these people. Indeed, Congress could add a reTuirement for these people to present themselves for training and (lection Day work in e[change for enhanced federal benefits.

The USPS ³scandal´ isn’t an attempt to steal an election for Trump. The real scandal is the effort to raise these fears to help political friends. Both parties should work together now and implement the real changes needed to ensure that our election proceeds fairly and on time – and that Americans get the mail service they need at a price they can afford.