The United States Postal Service (USPS) was originally created in 1792 by the Postal Service Act, and has had a single mission ever since: deliver mail to anybody, anywhere. To me, the service provided by the USPS is one of the most basic, fundamental things a government can do for its citizens. Like pretty much every other government agency, the USPS needs money to pay its employees and to carry out day-to-day operations. However, unlike pretty much every other every government agency, the USPS isn’t funded by taxpayer dollars allocated from Congress. They make their money solely by the sale of the services they provide (stamps, delivery, etc.). With the advent of the digital age, most things are done electronically now, which has decreased the volume of mail USPS handles greatly. Over the last several years, the USPS has consistently posted financial losses, and has had to re-organize and consolidate operations drastically to continue serving the public. The financial losses aren’t the fault of the USPS alone; but can in part be attributed to its mandate to fund all of its employees retirements well in advance, and a fairly complicated process used to raise its retail prices.

Donald Tr*mp has entered the chat. 

The financial problems the USPS have been aren’t the result of actions taken by Tr*mp solely, but they have been exasperated by the recent appointment of Louis DeJoy to be Postmaster General. Since taking over at USPS, DeJoy has been doing his best to dismantle the service like removing top officials, and delaying late arriving mail. While these are being done by DeJoy, you better believe it’s coming from the direction of the President.

Now let’s add some context as to why this is important to us now. COVID-19 hit the United States like a pile of bricks that we slowly watched come towards us. About 6 months since the first case, it’s clear we’ll be living in this new socially distanced society for a while. The need to keep our distance from each other won’t change on Election Day, which is why states across the country (NC included) are trying to make it a little easier to vote by mail/absentee ballot. For NC voters, an absentee ballot is a paper ballot that’s mailed to you, completed by you, and is mailed back/dropped off to your county Board of Elections office.

Starting to see why what tr*mp is doing, is wrong? He is intentionally trying to slow the mail service right before an election where the use of mail will be higher than ever before, and he knows it. Using mail greatly expands the number of people who are able to vote – think people who can’t vote early or on Election Day because of work or other obligations. On top of allowing mail to be delayed, tr*mp has also publicly said he would BLOCK any congressional funding intended to help fund the USPS prior to the election.

This. Is. Voter. Suppression. The president claims that he is only trying to prevent “voter fraud”, but there has been no evidence to support his claims, and he actively encourages voters in red (Republican) leaning states to vote by mail, I’m serious, he only wants his supporters to vote.

In conclusion, tr*mp is going to try and steal this election. Let’s try not to let this happen. Everybody’s situation is different, vote how you need to vote, but I highly recommend voting early. Early voting locations are typically spread throughout a city (I’ll touch on how voting locations are used to suppressed votes at a later date), open for most of the day, and are usually relatively empty compared to on Election Day. However, you should do what you believe is best for the well being of you and your family. If you’re going to vote absentee, just remember to request your ballot EARLY (deadline to request is Oct. 27), and mail it back EARLY, or better yet, drop off your ballot to the county BOE.

We’ve gotta do what we can to ensure we get that man out of office, even while they’re doing everything they can to drown our voices out. Thank you for reading, don’t forget to wear your masks, and keep looking for the big picture.