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For more than 50 years, I’ve depended on the United States Postal Service. And to tell you the truth, I don’t think they’ve once let me down.

Almost every day for six days a week, I’ve checked the mail. And never once has a bill I owed failed to reach me. Never. Not even once. Zilch. The power bill. The water bill. The cable bill. The phone bill. Even the newspaper bill. Whatever bill you want, the U.S. Postal Service will deliver it. On time. Every time.

But now, the postal service is in financial peril, with a new postmaster general who is kicking butt and taking names. He doesn’t care if someone in Podunk, Texas can’t get their medicine on time. He doesn’t care if someone in Faraway, North Carolina can’t get their newspaper on time. Sure, his strategy may save money next week, but what about next year? His strategy won’t work; it will quicken the downward spiral. There’s no better way to kill a customer service business than to offer poorer customer service. And that’s exactly what’s being done as you read this.

And to top that off, we’ve got a president giving grave predictions about what would happen if we go to mail only voting. Actually, he’s right about this one. But not because the Democrats could “steal” the election, as President Trump puts it; actually, I think both sides would do their part to “steal” the election. Heck, they do it without widespread mail in voting. People forget that there are bad people on their own side of the political aisle.

Without the recent cuts, I think the US Postal Service could have handled mail-in ballots. It’s the people who would be the problem. Imagine what would happen if everyone knew everyone else was getting a ballot on a certain day? The corruption on both sides would be rampant, especially in local elections. Yep, forget about the Biden vs. Trump people, although their levels of win-at-any-cost attitudes would lead to problems, I would worry about the county commission or town board candidates’ supporters, who know who their neighbors are supporting in the election. They know when they get home. Just go take the ballot. It would happen.

The postal service handles absentee ballots well, and will continue to do so this year, at least around here, I’m sure. There’s no set day for these to go out, and there are checks and balances to ensure it is done fairly, so there are fewer instances where bad apples could make a difference.

The president has suggested the elections be delayed; the same would be the result of mail-in only voting. The numbers wouldn’t be available on election night. And considering all of the places mail goes where some candidate, warranted or not, could cry foul, it could take months or longer to actually figure out who won, if it could ever be figured out.

Chew on this, Democrats. Mail-in only voting could leave Donald Trump in officer longer because we wouldn’t know who won the election for months, maybe even longer.

Republicans seem to be convinced that Democrats would benefit the most from mail voting. Let’s just hope that’s not why they’re against it. Every citizen of this country deserves the right to vote, whether they believe what you believe or not.

And don’t use the postal service as a scapegoat, especially not now as it is going through a transformation into who knows what. Any political candidate who bashes the postal service and its ability to deliver mail to where it needs to go on time should not be allowed to use that same postal service to send out unsolicited campaign material.

And if you’re like me and have never missed one of those bills, you shouldn’t bash their ability to deliver the mail, either.

– Mike Barnhardt