Protecting right to vote, Postal Service go hand in hand
If you saw the 1997 post-apocalyptic movie “The Postman,” you may recall how Kevin Costner’s character found an abandoned U.S. Postal Service Jeep, and adopted the uniform and the persona of a postman. In dreadful times, he enlisted young people to create a pony-express service that connected isolated communities and empowered good citizens to wrest control from tyrannical militias.
These are different times with a new pandemic — but we may once again need the postman to empower good citizens. We’re facing two unfortunately politicized problems: how to vote in the midst of a pandemic, and how the U.S. Postal Service can deliver ballots this fall when it is running out of money. We do well to remember that both the fundamental right to vote and the institution of a Postal Service are enshrined in the bedrock of the Constitution.
Start with voting by mail. It has at least four distinct advantages over traditional in-person voting. First, it may be the only safe way to protect voters and election workers during a stay-at-home pandemic, as illustrated by the controversy over the recent Wisconsin state election.
Second, it is convenient, so turnout improves.
Third, mailed ballots are much harder to hack and leave an indispensable paper trail. This is especially important at a time when there are questions about foreign intervention and election legitimacy.
Finally, for those who are concerned that vote-by-mail is subject to fraud, mailbased voting systems are far safer than most polling-place elections, precisely because they distribute ballots in such a decentralized way. Most voting experts do not think fraud is rampant. States can and do implement ballot tracking, prepaid postage and ballot drop boxes, which eliminate the need for voters to entrust their ballots to third parties.
Several states have shown the way. Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah currently conduct all elections entirely by mail. This is basically absentee voting for everyone. Here in Florida, you may choose to vote by mail simply by calling or writing your local Supervisor of
Elections.
Congress recently appropriated $400 million for states to improve voting security, including vote-by-mail. Even that may not be enough, and at least in Florida, funds have not yet reached local election officials who need to act now to protect the fall elections. At the same time, there are reports that the U.S. Postal Service may run out of money by mid-summer.
We all want legitimate elections. But what can you do? Fortunately, the “Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act” (NDEBA) bill has just been introduced in the U.S. Senate to fund and guarantee the integrity of voting by mail. So if you care about your own vote and what it means — never mind having a Postal Service around to deliver your prescriptions — you need to make sure your governor, your senators, your representatives and especially your president hear how important it is to you and our country to protect the Postman and the Ballot.