On April 7, Wisconsin voters had to make the difficult choice of risking their health in the midst of a global pandemic in order to exercise their right to vote in the state primary. It was unnecessary in that the primary could have been postponed as the governor decreed, but Republicans interested in suppressing voter turnout prevailed.
The Wisconsin primary was the canary in the mine, alerting the nation to the impact of the pandemic on the ability to vote as well as to antidemocratic impulses exploiting the pandemic to increase voter suppression. Exercising the right to vote is the “heartbeat” of democratic government; a right we should not take for granted.
To avoid a repeat of the Wisconsin Primary, activists and legislators in a number of states are crafting legislation offering alternatives to in-person voting for upcoming elections. On June 4, the Massachusetts House passed with 155 yays, 1 nays, an Act (H4768) that vastly expands voting options.
These options include voting by mail with every registered voter receiving an application in the mail to request a ballot for upcoming 2020 elections, coupled with in-person voting and increased early voting. If the Massachusetts Senate and governor approve this legislation, Massachusetts voters will have options for how they vote in the September primary and the November national election. Many likely choosing to vote by mail.
Even though the president votes by mail, he has expressed that there is “zero” chance of voting by mail in the 2020 election, insisting that it is rife with fraud. Like many of Trumps assertions, this one is not substantiated by facts. Before anyone heard of COVID-19 Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington have employed vote by mail effectively and securely.
The Brookings Institute released a report based on voting fraud data compiled by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, which has studied voting fraud for years. Focusing on the five states which have had universal vote by mail prior to 2018 , and on the kinds of voter fraud vote by mail could be vulnerable to, such as duplicate voting or fraudulent votes, the report concludes, “there is surprisingly little voter fraud and not nearly enough to justify blocking vote-by-mail systems in a pandemic.”
A recent analysis of national polling data conducted in April on Americans support for vote by mail by Common Cause reveals the vast majority of Americans overwhelmingly support vote by mail and other reforms that will make elections more accessible, fair and secure.
The lynch pin, of course, for vote by mail is the essential service, the United States Postal Service.
The U.S. Constitution mandates a postal service and postal routes, and in so doing created the foundation for our economic infrastructure. Today, after many different Acts of Congress, the Post Office is a quasi-independent agency with over 630,000 employees, which is self-sustaining, receiving no appropriations from Congress.
Like many businesses the Post Office has experienced significant loss of revenue during the pandemic. Because of a decrease in the volume of mail the Post Office could be out of funds by the end of the summer.
Throughout the pandemic, postal workers, facing risks to their health, have continued to provide their essential services, yet, surprisingly, no emergency funding has been allocated to the USPS of the three trillion dollars of direct aid to individuals and businesses approved by the Congress and the president for the coronavirus relief.
The first aid package known as the CARES Act (approximately $2 trillion) earmarked $500 billion for large corporations, giving $17 billion to national security companies, $58 billion to the airlines industry of which $4 billion is for air cargo carriers and $425 billion is for “other companies.” The United States Postal Service is not earmarked as one of the favored “other companies.”
Why hasn’t the government agency rated the most popular by Americans received any of the appropriated emergency funding? Why did both the president and the Senate majority leader decry the $25 billion allotted the Post Office in the HEROES Act recently passed by the House of Representatives, saying it is dead on arrival?
Clearly, there is a connection between the response of states to enable safe and accessible voting in the 2020 elections and not funding the Post Office. Over the last three years we have experienced an administration and Republican-led Senate that is systematically undermining our system of government and democratic process. On their agenda is suppressing voting, not encouraging voting. The president has gone so far as to threaten retribution to those states that have passed legislation to expand voting options including vote by mail.
Through the efforts of our state legislators as well as organizing by MassVote, Common Cause, Indivisible and others, Massachusetts voters may well have expanded voting options in time for the Sept. 1 Primary and Nov. 3 National Election.
To avoid this “victory” being undermined, we the people need to increase the volume of advocacy to ensure safe and fair elections and for funding of the Post Office. Saving the Post Office is about preserving our democracy and exercising the right to vote. Don’t take it for granted. It is the new normal.
Dolores Root is a resident of Shelburne.