Do not defund the USPS
On Aug 13, Pres. Donald Trump announced that he would deliberately block federal funding of the United States Postal Service (USPS) in an effort to suppress voters by discouraging the mail-in ballot. Also known as absentee ballots, this system is essential to democratic integrity, especially in the midst of a pandemic.
However, Trump has made numerous claims on the contrary, that mail-in ballots are a source of rampant fraud, despite having absolutely no evidence to support this. In fact, the president’s own voter fraud commission, which disbanded in 2018, found no evidence supporting claims of widespread voter fraud due to the absentee ballot.
On July 26, Trump tweeted, “The 2020 Election will be totally rigged if Mail-In Voting is allowed to take place, & everyone knows it.” Yet, only nine days later, he tweeted, “Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True. Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail!” It is clear that the president supports mail-in ballots, but only when it’s in his favor. His problem lies not with the USPS, but with Democratic voters.
A Pew Research Center survey released Aug. 13 shows that 58% of Democrat-leaning voters prefer to cast ballots by mail, while only 17% of voters likely to vote for Trump prefer mail-in voting. States like Oregon vote entirely by mail, so it is no coincidence that in early August, the USPS was forced to remove mailboxes in Portland and Eugene, traditionally left-leaning cities.
President Trump is abusing his power in order to blatantly commit voter suppression on a federal scale. Millions of Americans will be rendered unable to vote in arguably the most important election of the century, with the highest voter engagement the United States has seen in over two decades. To force the American public to risk their lives to vote in-person in the midst of a pandemic, or abstain from voting, is a gross miscarriage of justice and democracy.
Besides the autocractical furtherance inherent in Trump’s tyrannical actions, shutting down the post office is essentially class warfare, disproportionately harming the poor, disabled and BIPOC populations that rely on the service.
Unlike the UPS and Fedex, USPS is a not-for-profit government service that is legally required to deliver all mail at a flat rate, regardless of distance or location. This is a service unlike any other in its accessibility and affordability, making it especially crucial to impoverished communities, BIPOC neighborhoods, rural America, the disabled and the elderly.
The post office is a resource many are dependent on. It is crucial to those who live in areas without banks in order to purchase money orders, which can be used to pay rent and bills. It is the means to which the elderly and disabled receive vital medications which could mean life-or-death, and where already struggling small businesses ship their orders. It is where millions of Americans will receive their stimulus check.
The president’s war on the USPS threatens not only the very structure of the democratic process, but also the livelihoods of millions of the already disadvantaged populations of the US. Trump’s actions do not reflect the greater good of the people, but rather his own corrupt political agenda. It is senseless, irresponsible, selfish and disgustingly unjust. #SavetheUSPS. We must vote him out.
