Democrats complain Trump is slowing the mail to interfere with the election. Trump claims he’s speeding it up. Who do you believe? (Video clip from NBC Nightly News, Aug. 17, 2020)
Update (8/20/2020): Trump’s Postmaster General, hauled before Congress and facing lawsuits by 20 states, says he is suspending changes to hours, equipment, and processing equipment — which those states claim are illegal — until after the Nov. 3 election, but that won’t end the controversy or stop the lawsuits. Read story here. Meanwhile, House Democrats plan to vote for $25 billion of Postal Service funding in a separate bill from the relief bill hung up in negotiations that have reached an impasse. Read that story here.
We have had a post office under crises for twenty years. The new Postmaster maybe doing what should be done or Congress needs to get involved, as the post office is a function of government that is directly called for in the constitution, under the powers of Congress. I think some Democrats in Congress have finally noticed, but noticed because they think there is political hay. Guess they don’t have the guts to tell their constituents to get their votes in by dropping off their ballot at the county drop boxes, or voting in person. There is a crises at the post office but this election mail crises is manufactured, or require state legislatures to accept ballots post marked on election day to be counted for some time after election day.
Democrats have been trying to include $25 billion of Postal Service funding in the relief bill, but Republicans are blocking it.
Whether ballots must be postmarked (16 states + D.C.) or received (34 states) by election day varies by state. In “postmarked” states, deadlines to receive ballots vary from 2 to 14 days after election day, except Washington accepts ballots until the election is certified. For a state-by-state list, click here: https://tinyurl.com/y6ska3rz.