[EL] My Latest: The Postal Service is Not Ready for November

[Elias, Marc (Perkins Coie)]

I hope you enjoy my latest: The Postal Service is Not Ready for November<https://www.democracydocket.com/2020/07/usps-not-ready/>.
The Postal Service is Not Ready for November
By Marc Elias<http://www.perkinscoie.com/melias/> on July 19, 2020


Wisconsin’s April primary election illustrated exactly what could go wrong in an American election during the pandemic. Voters faced long lines<https://www.npr.org/2020/04/07/829091968/long-lines-reported-as-wisconsin-election-proceeds-despite-coronavirus-threat>, conflicting government orders<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/politics/wisconsin-primary-election-postponed-coronavirus.html>, and spikes of the virus<https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/05/19/coronavirus-infections-spiked-in-wisconsin-after-in-person-election-study-says/#624c1d0e14b3>.

Wisconsin was only the beginning.

Since then, we have witnessed state after state struggle with the exact same problems.

In Georgia<https://www.npr.org/2020/06/09/873054620/long-lines-voting-machine-issues-plague-georgia-primary>, poll worker shortages, precinct closures, and equipment problems yielded hours-long wait times throughout the state.

In Nevada<https://news3lv.com/news/local/nevada-democratic-party-voting-issues-entirely-avoidable-says-state-must-do-better>, the last voter in Clark County didn’t cast his ballot until 3:09 AM.

In Kentucky<https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/kentucky/2020/07/07/kentucky-elections-jefferson-county-rejects-more-than-8-000-ballots/5389986002/>, we saw alarmingly high rates of absentee ballot rejections.<https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/kentucky/2020/07/07/kentucky-elections-jefferson-county-rejects-more-than-8-000-ballots/5389986002/>

And in Iowa<https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/14/iowa-legislature-adjourns-2020-session-budget-voter-id-abortion-felon-voting/3184423001/>, after a successful primary election, Republicans changed the law to make voting more difficult in November.

Meanwhile, Trump continues his daily assault on voting from the White House. As the Vote Suppressor-in-Chief, Trump has leveraged his Twitter bully pulpit to sow fear in our elections and to spread disinformation about voting by mail. Most recently, he filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania to block the use of mail ballot drop boxes<https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/trump-campaign-lawsuit-pennsylvania-mail-ballots-20200629.html>.

As his campaign’s senior counselor, Justin Clark, said on <https://www.cbsnews.com/news/election-voting-2019-20-coronavirus-pandemic-60-minutes-2020-06-28/> 60 Minutes, “The President views vote by mail as a threat to his election.”

Now, the Trump administration has turned to weakening the United States Postal Service in a cynical effort to keep people from voting.  In April, USPS notified Congress that it could run out of money by September<https://www.propublica.org/article/the-postal-service-is-steadily-getting-worse-can-it-handle-a-national-mail-in-election>. Trump has not only ignored this warning but is using it as an opportunity to maximize his voter suppression agenda.

After the resignation of the USPS’s lead coordinator of election mail, Trump appointed a top campaign donor to serve as the postmaster general. This appointment led to the retirement<https://www.propublica.org/article/the-postal-service-is-steadily-getting-worse-can-it-handle-a-national-mail-in-election> of some of the USPS’s non-partisan staff, including the Deputy Director.

A new Inspector General report<https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2020/20-235-R20.pdf> raises additional cause for alarm.
Read the Full Piece: The Postal Service is Not Ready for November<https://www.democracydocket.com/2020/07/usps-not-ready/>


—
Marc Elias
Perkins Coie LLP
700 13th St, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 434-1609



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