Changes to Postal Service must not stand

There shouldn’t be anything partisan about the U.S. Postal Service. It’s a part of America that goes back to the Constitution, and has proven integral in uniting a country across vast spaces, over mountains and even oceans. There is no one who has not depended on a reliable postal service at some point in their lives to send and receive our most vital correspondence.

Today, the U.S. Postal Service is tasked with something it’s never faced before. Because of the threat of the coronavirus, millions of voters are likely to take advantage of absentee ballots and vote by mail this year. Absentees have been a part of elections for generations, but never on this scale. And in places like Connecticut, absentee ballots have until now been reserved only for people who meet specific criteria, such as an inability to vote in person due to illness or travel.

But we shouldn’t act as though vote by mail is wholly unprecedented. Many states, including Oregon and Colorado, have long allowed anyone to vote via the Postal Service, and those elections have proceeded without a hitch. Voting by mail is safe, reliable and easy.

Unfortunately, like so much else in our current era, voting by mail has turned into a partisan feud, led by a president who said in a recent interview that he wanted to block federal funds to the Postal Service because of the election. “They need that money in order to make the post office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” President Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network. “Now, if we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money. That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting.”

Democrats have acted to reverse policy changes they say have had the effect of slowing the mail, and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong joined many states around the country in filing suit over cost-cutting changes to the service’s operational capacity. House Democrats were scheduled to vote Saturday on an emergency relief plan, but the Senate would need to act, as well.

Complaints about the Postal Service’s profits and losses should not be part of any debate on this topic. It’s a part of the government that provides a service, not a business to be bought or sold. As Fourth District U.S. Rep. Jim Himes said recently, “Breaking the Post Office because it doesn’t make money is like trashing your bicycle because it doesn’t brew coffee.”

The Postal Service must not only halt any changes that were in the works, but reverse moves that have already been made. At its regular capacity, the Postal Service is well-equipped to handle the ballots expected to move around Election Day, but if its cuts are not restored, that ability is called into question. With so much on the line in the presidential election, as well as state and local races nationwide, the service cannot be faced with any unnecessary restrictions.

The Postal Service has never been more important to our country’s future than it is during our current health crisis. The cuts that have diminished its service cannot be allowed to stand.

“Breaking the Post Office because it doesn’t make money is like trashing your bicycle because it doesn’t brew coffee.” U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4