Electoral fraud is the illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the votes for a particular candidate, depressing the vote for a particular candidate, or both. Electoral fraud can take many forms, and what we are inevitably faced with this fall is the manipulation of absentee/mail-in ballots. The recent political skulduggery of Trump and his big-donor, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, suggest that the Trump campaign is actively trying to slow, and even destroy the USPS for its own benefit.
I’ve never thought of the US Postal Service as a hallmark of democracy, but with the recent Machiavellian attacks on the USPS by the Trump Administration, I’m beginning to think that indeed it is. It wasn’t until I was in college that I realized that the USPS is an independent agency of the executive branch of government, and is one of the few agencies actually mentioned in the Constitution. Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general at the Second Continental Congress of 1775, and the Post Office Department was created in 1792 with the passage of the Postal Service Act. In 1970, the department was reorganized, renamed the USPS and created as an independent agency. Since it’s inception, the USPS has been absolutely central to the development and the history of our nation.
Last Friday, the Trump administration went on all-out “Friday Night Massacre” in which Postmaster General Louis DeJoy (who happens to be a former CEO of a company called New Breed Logistics and a major Republican contributor to Trump) fired several top USPS executives and reorganized more than two dozen other employees. Prior to that, he slashed the USPS’s budget so drastically that it had to slow down the mail service, including the delivery of mail-in ballots in recent primary elections. Under DeJoy’s new orders, the USPS has deliberately slowed down the mail service, and now DeJoy is pushing to nearly triple the cost of postage for mail-in ballots. He’s also cut overtime hours for employees, and there are reports of the removal of mail-sorting machines in several states (1). As a side-line, DeJoy was appointed because of his loyalty to Trump and because his predecessor called Trump out for his bashing of the USPS. DeJoy couldn’t be more inappropriate for his new position, and his only qualification seems to be his donation of more than $2 million over the years to the Trump campaign and GOP causes. When asked about the recent changes to the already cash-strapped USPS, DeJoy stated that the changes are intended to cut spending and make it more cost-efficient. It’s not a coincidence that at the time of his appointment in June, DeJoy happened to divest his stock in UPS, but retained a stake of at least $30 million in his former company XPO Logistics, which contracts with the USPS. And then there’s the Amazon stocks: He divested a bunch of Amazon shares, and then turned around and bought new shares of Amazon at a price lower than the current market price. I sense a conflict of interest here.
So we have the fox guarding the hen-house, whose interests are obviously self-serving. This poses a very real threat to mail-in ballots and to our democratic process itself. There are 30 states where ballots need to be received on or before Election Day to be counted, and by slowing down the mail, DeJoy’s Machiavellian policies could disenfranchise millions of Americans who will vote through mail-in balloting this year. And then there’s Trump and his GOP supporters who spread misinformation about mail-in ballots being susceptible to fraud, even though there’s no evidence of that (2). Trump says he supports absentee balloting but not mail-in ballots. Now, absentee ballots and mail-in ballots are the same thing, and the fact that Trump and Melania requested mail-in ballots for Florida’s primary election just this past Tuesday, contradicts his attacks on voting by mail. Also, Trump and severl members of his administration have cast absentee ballots in the past, and they never complained about fraud then.
So what’s the deal with the attack on the USPS and mail-in ballots? I think the answer is pretty clear. Trump is trying to destroy the USPS and set fire to it because he’s afraid of losing in November, and he’ll do anything to get re-elected, even commit voter fraud. And what amazes me is that POTUS freely admits it. In a FOX interview this past Thursday, Trump mentioned funding for the USPS that Democrats wanted to push through in the latest (and stalled) coronavirus aid bill, “Now, they need that money in order to have the post office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots…. But if they don’t get those two items that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped to have it (3).” OK, no attempts to cover up the intent here.
DeJoy’s recent changes at the USPS are meant to deliberately slow down mail service all across the nation, and this is arguably the biggest threat to the American election system this fall. Due to COVID-19, mail-in ballots give us the option of voting safely, without exposing ourselves and our loved-ones to this virus that has taken millions of lives all across the globe. If mail delivery continues to slow, it disenfranchises citizens who live in states where ballots need to be received before election day, and slowing mail delivery can create a back-log of ballots that may not arrive on Election Day, meaning that the tallying of votes could go on for days or weeks, delaying the outcome of the election. What’s to stop Trump from trying to declare himself the winner when all of the ballots have yet to be counted?
So what do we do to combat the blatant attempt by Trump and DeJoy to suppress mail-in votes? How can we as individuals fight against voter fraud? I don’t know about you, but I’m not waiting for our representatives in Washington to offer up a solution and take DeJoy to task. Some of my friends suggested driving to local precincts and dropping off mail-in ballots. This is an excellent idea, but what if you don’t have transportation? What about the elderly, or voters who live in rural areas? Driving to a precinct office may not be an option, so perhaps the best solution is to request your absentee ballot from your local county clerk as soon as it becomes available, and mail it ASAP. If you need advice, consider contacting various voter advocacy groups such as the ACLU, the League of Women Voters, or the Brennan Center for Justice. Currently, only 17 states offer paid postage for mail-in ballots (4), and if you live in one of those states you’re lucky. In my home state of New Mexico, postage for mail-in ballots is covered, so I am fortunate, but voters in other states may see higher postage costs.
Trump and his supporters will do everything they can to commit election fraud in order to get Trump re-elected, and the reason is they’re scared and they’re desperate: Trump is slumping in the polls and at least five GOP Senator seats may go blue in November, subsequently flipping the Senate in favor of the democrats (5). It’s going to be a bumpy ride until November 3rd America, but it’s my sincere hope that we the people do not let the Trump campaign sabotage our democratic process by shutting down the USPS, so if you opt to mail in your ballot, don’t procrastinate, we’re running out of time.
Sources:
1. https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/13/politics/postal-service-sorting-machines/index.html
3. https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-admits-he-wants-block-usps-funding-sabotage-mail-voting-2020-8