Plus, SNL taps a familiar face to play Joe Biden
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Let's talk about the mail |
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As the 2020 election approaches, the new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, has prioritized budget cuts over getting people their mail on time. This could imperil voting by mail, which is expected to happen at unprecedented levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But for all the attention the public has paid to mail-in ballots, a well-functioning USPS is equally critical to voting in person.
Because U.S. elections are so decentralized — with thousands of localized rules, deadlines, ballots and precincts — the post office, as a system that successfully connects the entire nation, is a singularly important part.
The mail is how most voters receive official confirmation of their registration and notices about their polling places. The mail is how ballots get from the printer’s office to those polling places, and how those polling places are staffed. (Usually, the last steps to becoming a poll worker involve receiving an official appointment by mail and responding by mail.) The mail has to achieve all of this on time. Just one missed deadline in a chain of deadlines — for registration, notification, ballot delivery — can disenfranchise a voter.
The mail, in other words, helps run U.S. elections. And there are fears that this year, it will fall down on the job.
Neither snow nor Category 5 hurricanes nor massive printing snafus have stopped the Postal Service from helping safeguard U.S. elections in the past. Has that changed? |
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 | WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING | Hurricane Sally made landfall near the Alabama-Florida border last night, making it the second hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast in less than three weeks. Meanwhile, continued fires from Oregon to the Mexican border have put firefighting resources under enormous strain. | |
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Breonna Taylor’s family has reached a settlement in the 26-year-old’s wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Louisville, Kentucky, after she was shot and killed in her own home in March when city police executed a late-night, “no-knock” warrant for a narcotics investigation.“[The] family is pleased that the city was willing to collaborate on meaningful reform,” Sam Aguiar, attorney for the Taylor family, told HuffPost. “Now, we’re counting on the AG and DOJ to do the right thing and hold all responsible officers accountable.” | |
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Joe Biden’s presidential campaign said Tuesday it would look for ways to cancel Puerto Rico’s crushing municipal debt and make broad investments in the island territory if the Democrat wins the White House this November. The former vice president is looking to court climate refugees who fled the hurricane-ravaged island to battleground states like Florida. | |
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