Changes at USPS Will Be Trouble Ahead

USPS Drop Box and street

Background:  Marc Elias who keeps track of these things (1) warns us that “a new development threatens to further undermine voting by mail. A recent rule change at the U.S. Postal Service means that postmarks will no longer reflect the date a piece of mail was deposited at a local post office. Instead, postmarks will be applied at a regional processing facility... Making matters worse, the USPS has scaled back evening mail pickups in vast parts of the country. Voters whose post offices are more than 50 miles from a regional processing facility will be hit hardest – so most, if not all, of Washington County. Roughly 149 million Americans across 70% of U.S. ZIP codes will be affected.” This is an outrage of course.  It was implemented December 24 last year.  Merry Christmas from the Trump Administration.

This not only affects vote by mail.  ALL your time sensitive mail will be affected – all the bills you have to pay on time, your tax returns (2), all the applications and forms that have to be received by a certain date, etc. As a practical matter you will need to overcompensate. Mail everything early (no procrastination allowed!).  Use tracking that shows when you mailed the item and keep a copy of what you mailed.  If necessary, use overnight services.  All of this adds cost and anxiety to you, but that seems to be a feature of this administration.

Action:  Be aware of this and make your friends/family aware.  Ask your postmaster to estimate the date that your mail will be postmarked in the Hampden facility.  The estimate will depend on the time and day of the week that you mail it.  Take the worst case, add several days and make that your new deadline for mailing (3).  For voting, plan on using your town voting drop box, or in-person absentee, or go to the polls on voting day.  

Urgency: The rule is already in effect.

Extra Credit:

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Elias

https://newsletters.democracydocket.com/-how-new-usps-rules-put-the-right-to-vote-at-risk

(possibly behind a paywall)

(2) https://www.natptax.com/news-insights/blog/usps-postmark-changes-create-new-filing-risks-for-tax-pros

(3) Here’s an example for Machias: Say your mail is ready to go at noon on Saturday.  You put it in the mailbox in front of the PO.  It is sent to Hampden Monday afternoon, and postmarked probably on Wednesday, but possibly even later.  So, plan to put all your time-sensitive items in the mail from 5 days to a week before they are due.