Mail-in voting funding for the USPS

[AssEndDawg]

The post office loses money every year. You taxes go to them to bail them out every few years. Their overhead is much more than what they make off stamps and shipping costs. And in turn you help subsidize Amazon due to cheap shipping costs.

No... the Post Office costs money, and while some of that is privately generated some also comes from the government. We don't say, "The US Military loses 700 billion dollars every year!"

The Post Office could run at a profit if the Federal Government would leave it alone. They regulate the price of stamps, they have a say in contracts that the USPS signs, as you can tell they are allowed to put a complete ******* clown in charge of the entire thing. So if you want the Post Office to run on it's own then separate it from Government control. Let them charge what it actually costs to deliver the mail. Of course the single biggest problem is that the US requires the post Office to 100% fund an employee's pension the first day they start work, and this is a government pension. This is a ridiculous rule that costs the Post Office billions of dollars. No private company would ever do this.

The Post Office still does a lot of things no private company can do, just look at FedEx and UPS saying that they cannot replace the Post Office functions. Not only do we need the Post Office, it is spelled out in Article 1 of the Constitution, not the Bill of Rights, the original constitution. If someone wants to get rid of it, spin it out completely, or get the constitution amended. But just like the 2nd Amendment it is not proper for someone to unilaterally make changes without going through the proper process.

 

[AssEndDawg]

And your single data point obviously completely invalidates the YEARS of 100% mail-in voting done in other states...

 

[RocketDawg]

on a national level. I think Trump was recently told this, so he's started pushing *for* Mail-in voting in certain, typically republican leaning states like Florida, while still yelling against it in other states. Apparently he trusts DeSantis to "do the right thing" while believing democratic controlled states will intentionally mishandle ballots.

Projection at its finest.

Where'd you read or hear that? Got a reliable link? Is he pushing for wholesale mail-in, or absentee voting in case there's a fear of voting in person?

There is plenty of time to apply for absentee voting if a person is going to be gone on voting day, or simply is afraid to go because of Covid. There was an article on al.com today saying 75 days left to apply in this state. Probably similar in Florida.

Absentee voting is not what's meant my "mail-in" voting, although ballots can be returned by mail. There's still room for problems, especially if your return ballot is just left in a rural mailbox (most of us have one of those) with the red flag raised for the carrier to pick up.

I'm not sure what's to stop a person for completing a wholesale mail-in ballot, then going to the polls and voting in person again. That would be hard to sort out (same with absentee, but on a much smaller level).

 

[AssEndDawg]

Where'd you read or hear that? Got a reliable link? Is he pushing for wholesale mail-in, or absentee voting in case there's a fear of voting in person?

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/pol...0200804-rlldr7mb2fffjiv4qud7ctupbi-story.html

Absentee voting is not what's meant my "mail-in" voting, although ballots can be returned by mail. There's still room for problems, especially if your return ballot is just left in a rural mailbox (most of us have one of those) with the red flag raised for the carrier to pick up.

I'm not sure what's to stop a person for completing a wholesale mail-in ballot, then going to the polls and voting in person again. That would be hard to sort out (same with absentee, but on a much smaller level).

There is no difference between absentee and mail-in voting. Absentee was traditionally for the military and people who would not be in their home state for the election, but there is no difference at all. And yes, they can handle someone who votes in person and also returns a ballot, come on man. You really think it is a system that easy to flummox? You have to be a registered voter and sign it with all your information. If you vote in person the mail-in ballot won't count. If the mail-in ballot gets there first you won't be allowed to vote in person. That easy. There is near ZERO fraud with mail-in ballots. This entire thing is MADE UP!

Also to add, a lot of states have draconian rules around getting absentee ballots. So here in Tennessee I can't just get one because I want one.

 

[QuaoarsKing]

There is plenty of time to apply for absentee voting if a person is going to be gone on voting day, or simply is afraid to go because of Covid. There was an article on al.com today saying 75 days left to apply in this state. Probably similar in Florida.

Depends on your state. Lots of them have ruled that COVID fears are not a valid reason to vote early/absentee.

I'm not sure what's to stop a person for completing a wholesale mail-in ballot, then going to the polls and voting in person again. That would be hard to sort out (same with absentee, but on a much smaller level).

Every polling place keeps a list of who votes to ensure people don't vote twice. That list can easily be cross-referenced to the list of people who vote by mail, and anyone caught voting twice will go to for-real prison. It happens to tens of people every presidential election.

It's just not worth it to risk prison time (and a very high likelihood on the risk) just to add 1 vote to your candidate, when it would take tens of thousands to flip even a very close state. And even if you knew for 100% you wouldn't go to jail, the amount of effort it would take to flip an election fraudulently would be more efficiently spent just funding GOTV efforts to help people vote legitimately.

ETA: In 2016, the closest state was Michigan, which Trump won by just over 10,000 votes. In order to flip it fraudulently, you would either have to have 1 person figure out how to vote 10,000 times, which would involve either doing it all over the state in different precincts, or doing it all in the same precinct where every armchair sleuth in the country could see that turnout randomly jumped up exponentially in just that 1 precinct. Or it would mean getting 10,000 people to add 1 vote (still would need to spread it out geographically), but that's so many people you would have to trust to never blow the whistle. It's just too hard to steal an election with a small group of people in the information age where so many people are running the results through R and Python to research patterns. The cost/benefit ratio just isn't there.

 

[QuaoarsKing]

Why is the wholesale catastrophe in New York continually being ignored by one side?? Did Trump rig it so the New York trial balloon popped? 21 percent were invalidated. 21 percent. 21 percent. 21 percent. Say it. It’s easy. 21 percent. Invalidated.

it’s been 2 months and no declared winner in two races. This is in one city. 2 months.

why is this so difficult??

Why are you ignoring that it's been successful in multiple states for decades? It would behoove every state to look at what went wrong in New York and learn their lesson, but the vast majority of the time, it's worked out fine, and even with New York included, there are 0 examples of a mail-in election being stolen or even suspected of it by the losing party.

 

[RocketDawg]

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/pol...0200804-rlldr7mb2fffjiv4qud7ctupbi-story.html



There is no difference between absentee and mail-in voting. Absentee was traditionally for the military and people who would not be in their home state for the election, but there is no difference at all. And yes, they can handle someone who votes in person and also returns a ballot, come on man. You really think it is a system that easy to flummox? You have to be a registered voter and sign it with all your information. If you vote in person the mail-in ballot won't count. If the mail-in ballot gets there first you won't be allowed to vote in person. That easy. There is near ZERO fraud with mail-in ballots. This entire thing is MADE UP!

Also to add, a lot of states have draconian rules around getting absentee ballots. So here in Tennessee I can't just get one because I want one.

In the cited article - the difference is you have to request a ballot. They're not just sent out to every registered voter as they appear to be in at least California.

I'll let you know if my son gets a ballot. He just moved from Florida to the Atlanta burbs. Presumably he's registered to vote there (I haven't asked him - he's a Democrat ).

Why not online voting, then for those who don't have online access, mail-in -- or vote in person? Just make sure that the person who votes is eligible to vote.

I'm going to vote in person. That way I get to fill in the circles myself, then run the big card through the scanner myself. That way I'll know, to the greatest extent possible, that my vote will be counted. I'd not have that type of assurance with any other form.

 

[RocketDawg]

Here's an interesting article about Kaleigh McEnnany's claim that Los Angeles County has 112% of the population registered to vote. Seems like a reliable source: https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/is-voter-registration-in-los-angeles

 

[goodknight]

Nope, can’t be true. Dems said mail-in voting was all set to go and when Trump questioned the USPS ability to deliver on time the Dems blasted him and said it’d work with no problems. What’s changed in the last few days?

 

[dog12]

Privatization of all shipping would be more efficient. We don't need the USPS anymore. I get 90% junk mail from them already. Bills etc can be handled online. Payments from the government-online.
The post office is more nostalgic than useful.

Watch out!

Kramer tried this years ago . . .

 

[RocketDawg]

If all your mail volume numbers are true (and I'm not saying they're not), then why does the USPS need a big infusion of cash for the election? Isn't that what Pelosi wants? The increased mail volume will just be a blip on the radar for them.

 

[RocketDawg]

The large mail dropoff boxes are being picked up and hauled away by the USPS in Oregon. Supposedly it's because of decreased mail volume. Now something like that does indeed sound fishy at this time of the election year and they've done mail-in voting there since the 1980s.