Mail order

Finally, the right package arrives

“The Postal Service is ready today to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives in the fall.”

—Louis DeJoy, postmaster general, this week

IF THE CREEK don’t rise, the postmaster general is supposed to testify today before the United States Congress, and, this being an election year, doubtless there’ll be gnashing of teeth among the politicians. After all, the cameras will be on. Might as well use them.

But the post office’s top official took some of the ammunition away from his critics earlier this week. In fact, after his announcement that he’d reversed course and would suspend some planned changes that might slow the mail come November, his critics decided their best line of the week was: We don’t believe him anyway.

Louis DeJoy, the nation’s new postmaster, announced Tuesday that he’s standing down on his operational changes to the mail. For now. He said he would suspend some of the money-saving initiatives until at least after the November election. Which was the right call, finally.

“We will deliver the nation’s election mail on time,” he said in a statement. Which is good news, pandemic or no. But with so many people planning to vote by mail, the year 2020 is really no time to start experimenting with the mail flow.

General DeJoy was given the post office job in June, so he’s still green. But after the administration’s critics began to call foul on some of his plans to streamline the agency, he made the right decision to hold off for a few months: “I came to the Postal Service to make changes to secure the success of this organization and its long-term sustainability. I believe significant reforms are essential to that objective, and work toward those reforms will commence after the election. In the meantime, there are some long-standing operational initiatives—efforts that predate my arrival at the Postal Service—that have been raised as areas of concern as the nation prepares to hold an election in the midst of a devastating pandemic. To avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded.”

Green, but spoken like a seasoned pro. Louis DeJoy sounds almost as if he’s a CEO with supply chain and political experience, which he is.

The post office’s own website said it delivered something like 28 million packages—per day—in the week before Christmas last. And it planned to deliver 800 million packages between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. If every single American that voted in the last presidential election were to vote by mail this year, that would be less than 129 million votes—a lot of votes, but nothing the post office can’t handle. The hitch, experts say, is timing.

If 129 million Americans decided to wait until the last week to request a ballot from their states, then hope to get the ballot sent back that same week, the post office would be flooded. The trick is to give the post office a few weeks to handle the rush.

But then again, that’s not a step for a stepper. The USPS warns Americans every single Christmas to get their packages in early. And even posts signs in its offices about deadlines to reach other states by Dec. 24.

This can be done. The new postmaster general has said it will be.

Neither snow nor rain or heat nor election year politics, the mail will go through.

THE BIGGER problem for the coming election might not be at the federal level, and the national post office, but at the state level. This November, the states must be ready to handle many more mail-in ballots than in previous years. Arkansas included.

We don’t anticipate headlines such as: The mail didn’t go through!

But we wouldn’t be surprised to see: Ballots not counted yet!

There are people planning for this, or there’d better be. After Florida Y2K, we expect most secretaries of state and those elections officials in their offices have operations orders for most surprise contingencies. This pandemic, however, is no surprise. It’s given Americans about nine months’ warning. That’s plenty of time.

Or should be.