The War Against the Mail
Daria Nepriakhina
They brought you your medication. Delivered your Amazon packages. Even brought you your stimulus checks. They delivered your census forms and soon they’ll be providing your ballots. Unless the President has anything to do with it. The US Postal Service was embedded into the Constitution by the Framers in order to circulate the critical news that would propel America’s experiment in democracy. Seeing the agency as a critical instrument in webbing together the vast nation, the Founders were eager to establish it as the backbone of our democracy. But, not even the Framers could have imagined how it would grow to become the keystone of the 2020 election, a factor that has not been overlooked under the scrutinous eye of President Trump. As we near the 2020 general election, the possibility of a mail-in voting based election has gained some merit. However, President Trump’s war with the USPS over their deficit threatens to dispel any chances of holding a mail-based election. So, why exactly does Trump have such a problem with the USPS? And is his fight more intertwined with his reelection efforts than it initially seemed?
To understand the full story, we first need to go back to the very beginning. Trump first unleashed his tirade against the Postal Service in the context of stimulus bills amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. After sparring with Congress over a $13 billion bailout for the USPS in the last round of stimulus bills, he managed to get it reduced to only $10 billion but even that small victory didn’t content him. Now, he has made the outlandish claim that unless the USPS raises rates by 400 percent, he will refuse to sign any bills that include aid to the agency. His demands stem from the apparent deficits the Postal Service has accumulated in recent years. But, Trump’s larger fight isn’t to combat the deficits racked up by the USPS but to hamper the services the USPS provides to e-commerce giants like Amazon. Right now, it’s hard to imagine that Congress would ever agree to hike up postal service prices to such monumental rates under current circumstances. For one, the pandemic has led to an augmented reliance on the postal service to provide basic necessities to the immunocompromised, and others who cannot safely leave their homes. And even if we were under normal circumstances, the Postal Service is a widely popular agency on both sides of the aisle and is considered the undisputed most popular federal agency in the country. With so many constituents reliant on its services, there is hardly room for lawmakers to oppose the institution. And it’s not just everyday people who rely on the services who would oppose raised prices, e-commerce companies such as Amazon and E-Bay have been equally vocal about maintaining current rates that are pivotal to the functioning of their businesses, even running ads against the proposal.
But, however outlandish Trump’s demands may seem, he’s just made strides toward making them a reality. As of May 6th, 2020, Louis DeJoy, a prominent North Carolina businessman and top donor & fundraiser for the RNC has been appointed to head the Postal Service. With a close ally at the helm of the agency, this development has begun to fuel the fire of Trump’s battle with the USPS. And this fight comes at a time when mail carriers are working 12 hour days, 6 days a week to ensure that businesses can transition to online purchases, census forms can be sent, and medication can be delivered. But despite being one of the most essential services provided at this moment, its viability is not guaranteed. When Vox News asked one postal worker if the collapse of the USPS was possible, he explained, “It doesn’t feel viable right now. People rely on us to get their medicine and their packages,” but ominously cautioned “never say never.” And it’s not just his job that could be at risk. In fact, the postal service is one of the largest employers of African Americans and veterans, offering almost half a million jobs that have propelled many families into the middle class.
All the more, even if Trump’s fight with the USPS may just seem like an effort to get them to operate like one of his businesses, concerns are mounting that it could be more intertwined with his reelection campaign than was initially imagined. If Trump’s efforts are successful, the Postal Service will be seriously hampered by either a drastic cut to stimulus funding or unimaginable price hikes that weaken its total revenue over time. Clearly, the President’s goal is to weaken the Postal Service, but such action would threaten efforts to transition to mail-in voting. Imagine for a minute if the Postal Service had to shut down at least 500 locations, fire even 200,000 workers. This would make hundreds of zip codes arduous to reach. Such a change would fuel the argument against mail-in voting because it would no longer be ubiquitously accessible. Ultimately, a weakened Postal Service would pose a serious threat to democracy. Without the possibility of a mail-in election, we would resort to denying marginalized groups the right to vote simply due to the health risks posed by the process. Quite simply, if the USPS is dismantled, it will take with it the only framework available to fairly implement mail-in voting and will leave in its wake a broken election and an ambiguous future. One can only wonder if Trump’s criticism of mail-in ballots doesn’t just coincide with his war against the postal service. As these conflicts magnify in the coming weeks, we must consider, what does the President gain from dismantling the mail-in voting system? And why would he prefer the possibility of an unsafe election with record low turnout over a safe, socially distanced option that may expand turnout among marginalized groups?