One person’s reform is another person’s disaster.
Change is never easy.
When change impacts a unionized governmental entity such as the U.S. Postal Service, the process requires cooperation, negotiation and most importantly, trust.
There are more than 600,000 postal workers of which 220,000 are dues paying members of the American Postal Workers Union. The reform effort currently underway by the White House meets none of these fundamental process requirements to ensure the continued existence of this critical governmental function.
The USPS is established in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, which gave Congress the ability to establish Post Offices and post roads.
Back in 1787, our great country of 13 states was knit together by written communication. People were unified by letters. The USPS was a main ingredient in the growth of our democracy. That is why its existence is guaranteed in the main body of the Constitution and not as an Amendment in the Bill of Rights.
The USPS is extremely important to rural areas, including Graham County. We receive mail and packages that are necessities of life in these difficult coronavirus-constricted times. Cost-saving measures will impact our dedicated local workers and the services they provide. Given that an organization that loses billions of dollars annually cannot survive without reforms, this process needs to go slowly and cautiously for sure. Yet it needs to go on in a process called “collective-bargaining” and not in a ham-fisted, in-your-face, politically-motivated manner as we see unfolding today.
There is no threat of strike. The necessary reforms to become more efficient are not being negotiated with cooperation between management and labor.
Having said that to be fair, this is not the time for implementing radical change in the USPS. With COVID-19, millions of extra absentee/mail-in ballots will be handled by the USPS. These dedicated workers need to meet an unprecedented challenge. But it is not their challenge alone.
Our local elections staff and their Elections Board need to rapidly turn around ballot requests and get the ballots back in the mail with a one-day turnaround, even if that requires working overtime. The State Elections Board needs to monitor the situation and be prepared to grant extensions if necessary. If additional funds are needed for overtime or hiring temporary workers in the local elections process, the county commission must find the resources. Most importantly, voters must act responsibly and request/return their ballots early, not late. This is the best way to guarantee your ballot will be counted.
We must not be duped by false claims that absentee ballots or mail-in ballots will be subject to massive fraud. Nine states will mail ballots to all voters. Nearly 180 million people who are eligible to vote would be able to vote by mail. Twenty-five million of those eligible to vote live in states that will accept fear of COVID-19 as justification for requesting a mail-in ballot.
These are big numbers, but don’t be fooled. The Christmas rush has mail delivery of greetings and packages in the billions, and the postal workers and temporary hires
handle this peak demand just fine.
The potential for fraud is always there. That is why our local Canvassing Board has the critical responsibility to check signatures and other requirements carefully, and utilize procedures to catch fraudulent ballots. If those procedures need to be beefed up, there is plenty of time.
If the Canvassing Board and staff need to work late into the night to verify the alleged tidal wave of fraudulent ballots, that is a small price to pay to protect our right to vote in a democratic society.
Roger Carlton is a columnist for The Graham Star. He is a council member for the Town of Lake Santeetlah.