Postmaster general reorganizes USPS ahead of November election | Hacker News Reader

Postmaster general reorganizes USPS ahead of November election

axios.com

66 pointsLopRabbit24 comments

This really scares the crap out of me. I dont know the potential number of people who will end up voting by mail, but given Covid, I assume that would be significant. Messing with that system will really screw Americas voice and essentially block democracy. What can we do to make sure that our government know that this is unacceptable

Considering about 20% of mail-in ballots have already been disqualified for one reason or another, a drastic change could be exactly what's needed.

If you're talking about the NY primary, it didn't have much to do with the mail, it was mostly people who were unfamiliar with the process and mixed up things like forgetting to sign it.

Here's an atlantic article about it: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/07/new-yor...

That said: I think New York is an example of why the debate about this is worth having. 20% of ballots getting tossed is catastrophic.

> It didn't have much to do with the mail

From your link

Patel said his campaign is looking at thousands of other votes that seem to be missing postmarks entirely—a post-office error... He sent me a photo of a box of 3,000 absentee ballots from just one part of the district that have been ruled invalid because they lack a postmark.

Personally I've heard a lot about the mail being an issue in NY.

I'm also terrified. I thought voting and literally the core of our democracy would be off limits to the current administration, but here we are. Our elections are being undermined to the best of the president's ability. The news over the past few months is honestly something more fit for a third world country on the verge of dictatorship, not the United States.

It really is scary how open the current administration is about attacking the postal system before a historic mail in election. I sent my ballot application in the other day and it is already taking an extra two days compared to what I am used to. The intent is clear.

That, plus the constant narrative about voter fraud (which apparently only happens in blue leaning states) and then the comment about delaying the election. He's setting himself up so that if he loses in November he can scream "they cheated" and try to override our democratic process. Voting is the core of democracy and it's crazy that it's coming under attack. Whatever the outcome of the election is, this November is going to be a scary time.

It's interesting to see the election being manipulated right in front of the public's eyes and be unable to do anything about it. This post office bomb is only one part. We are being told by our representatives about their briefings from intelligence agencies on foreign attacks on our elections, yet are not allowed to know any details. The white house clearly supports both domestic interference and foreign. They are actively perpetrating the fraud domestically and passively doing nothing about foreigners. There are other players, like Facebook which intentionally allows conservative conspiracy theories to thrive. It's hard to imagine this year's elections will be fair with so much meddling allowed to happen. Will we have another election decided by the Supreme Court because ballots can't be counted quickly enough? Full me once shame on ...

Facebook is intentionally allowing conservative conspiracy theories to thrive? I think that at best, you are seeing only one half of the picture...

Why would a businessman that has invested in companies that oppose the USPS be elected Postmaster?

Appointed, not elected, and this was the plan. I just sort of hoped that there was a layer of bureaucracy at USPS that might be able to resist this kind of blatant sabotage, but I guess not..

I'd like to offer an alternative view...

As Nancy Pelosi brings up the concern:

"believe these changes, made during the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic, now threaten the timely delivery of mail — including medicines for seniors, paychecks for workers, and absentee ballots for voters."

... I'm not 100% sure from this article what shifts took place. It's quite possible to handle the increased volume of mail (and lack of funds) these changes were necessary in an attempt to prioritize her concerns.

Honestly, articles like this appear as propaganda to me.

Take my opinion as you will -- neither party represents me, so I don't feel overly supportive of one side (perhaps making me more sensitive to said propaganda).

The article has a neutral headline. It includes statements from people on both sides of the political divide - you just included one of the quotes from one of the sides.

We could argue until the cows come home about how many words the article contains that were quoted by whom, and whether the right words were quoted, and someone might feel that the article leans to the left or leans to the right.

But straight-up propaganda?

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