I am not a conspiracy theorist. I prefer to see incompetence or stupidity instead of evil intent. But the current state of mail delivery, which makes holding an election where millions of ballots are dependent on a system that's largely been unchanged since the 18th century, does not fill me with confidence.
That's an exaggeration, of course. The postal service has spent billions of dollars on the most advanced, up-to-date equipment in the world.
So why does it still take so long to send a letter a couple of dozen miles? There's a higher priority on cross-country mail than on cross-town mail. And that spells trouble for the 2024 presidential election.
The postal service is in financial trouble. This isn't unusual. It's been in financial trouble since the beginning of time and will never be in the black no matter how much they charge for a first-class stamp.
Add to the financial troubles the brand-new distribution system that the postal service is still trying to work the kinks out of.
They'll probably have it figured out in time for the election... of 2054.
The delays appear to largely stem from a new system the Postal Service began rolling out last fall that will eventually funnel all the nation’s letters and packages through a consolidated network of 60 regional distribution centers — similar to the airlines’ hub-and-spoke model. The change is part of a wider $40 billion, 10-year overhaul of the network that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has said will reduce costs, improve reliability and make the Postal Service more competitive. But in some instances, the plan has done the opposite, according to the Office of the Inspector General for the Postal Service, members of Congress and Postal Service advocacy groups.
“It’s just a dumpster fire right now,” said Leo Raymond, a former Postal Service manager and managing director of Mailers Hub, an industry group.
“If you’re a business, you’re going to be discouraged from using the mail because you want your stuff to actually get there," Raymond said.
Nationwide, 87% of first class, two-day mail arrived on time during the last three months of 2023, a 2.5 percentage-point decrease from the same period a year earlier, according to data published by the Postal Service inspector general. For mail intended to take three to five days, just 70% arrived on time, a decrease of 11 percentage points, the data showed.
“The nature of USPS’s network changes has now raised significant concerns including the potential for degraded rural service due to fewer facilities, delayed delivery of election mail that would be processed at out-of-state facilities, and critical health information such as laboratory tests not being processed same-day due to decreased transportation trips,” said Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
My concern is the endless litigation that will be initiated by both parties as close races will not be decided until every last piece of mail has been delivered to the ballot counting facility. Since I'm not as trusting as Democrats are about what happens the longer the counting goes on, the delays will only add to the skepticism of voters that no one has their thumb on the scale.
Something goes out of the democratic process when people aren't voting in a voting booth. I understand the arguments to make voting "easier" and "more convenient" but has anyone ever looked at what we're losing by allowing people to vote remotely?
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