With election day coming up less than three months from now, will Saline have enough mailboxes to handle ballots?

Add another items to the list of things that no one in their wildest dreams would have anticipated before the advent of COVID-19. [1-3]

The United States Postal Service is curently dominating news headlines this week. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and our own Michigan Senator Gary Peters, both Democrats, are leading advocacy. Elsewhere in the nation, the Democratic National Committee is in the midst of its Presidential nominating convention. [4-7]

The GOP comes next week. [8]

Three months ago, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced that every registered voter here would be receiving “an application to vote by mail in the August and November elections ….” [9]

At the time, this was covered a a change that would make “Michigan one of a handful of states to ease voting practices this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has complicated in-person voting and raised concerns nationwide over how to ensure safe access to the ballot box during the crisis.

The state will send the state’s 7.7 million registered voters an absentee ballot application; about 1.3 million of those are already on the list to receive applications for every election …. The plan will cost $4.5 million, which will be drawn from the state’s allocation of money from the federal CARES Act passed in March …. [10]

Earlier today, CNN headlined a piece that posed the question, “Mail-in vs absentee voting: What’s the difference?” In less than three minutes, analyst Zach Wolf concluded that “It’s a confusing distinction because it doesn’t really exist.” [11]

The bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) approached the question with a great deal more attention to detail and nuance. During the summer, they dedicated a total of four webinars, each at over an hour in length and supported by a variety of expert panelists in order to help constituents better understand and make responsible decisions, in balance, related to “Voting Outside the Polling Place.” [12-16]

When that August 4 Election Day anticipated by Secretary Bensen came, a total of 10,694 absentee ballots” were rejected for a variety of causes. Some 6,400 of them “because they arrived after Election Day ….” [17]

As The Detroit News reminded readers on August 14, President Donald Trump won the State of Michigan “by a margin of 10,704 votes in November 2016 — his slimmest margin nationwide.”

Hence so many eyes on the Post Office.

And with that, cries of Conspiracy! and worse at the sight of any sighting of a mailbox removal, anywhere. Thanks to ubiquitous cell phone cameras, citizen journalists captured The Story! with snapshots, uploaded them to social media, and retweets took it from there. [18]

On Monday, USA Today ran a “fact check” that rejected conclusion that “A picture of stacked mailboxes is proof of voter suppression in Wisconsin.” This morning, the Saline Michigan Postmaster personally assured Saline Journal that “We have the same number of pickup boxes throughout the city as we did when I came here six years ago.” (According to the “Mailbox Locate” website, Saline has seven — each of which we’ve visited and confirmed as part of research for this article.) [19,20]

Notwithstanding, CNN reported on Friday that the United States Postal Service “will stop taking letter collection boxes off streets in Western states following accusations the removals would further limit some voters (sic) ability to send back mail-in ballots. [21]

The change came after CNN and others reported on Friday that the US Postal Service has started reducing post office operating hours across several states and removing letter collection boxes … until after the election.

That means … the USPS will stop collecting the letter collection boxes only in: Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Alaska, Nebraska and small parts of Wisconsin and Missouri.

What about Michigan?

Use of mail service isn’t your only option for “voting outside the polling place.” WXYZ Detroit has noted that “Michigan has more than 700 absentee ballot drop-off locations,” and gone on to provide a comprehensive listing. They’ve also cautioned that voters “must only use the drop box in your jurisdiction. You cannot drop it off at any ballot box.” [22]

References

1. Coronavirus (COVID-19) (home page).
2. “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)” CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
3. “Novel Coronavirus Reports” CDC.
4. United States Postal Service (home page).
5. “USPS: Pelosi to recall the House to ‘save’ the post office” (August 17, 2020) BBC News.
6. “ICYMI: Peters Leading The Charge To Protect The Postal Service” (August 17, 2020) Michigan Business Network.
7. Democratic National Committee (home page).
8. Republican National Committee (home page).
9. “Jocelyn Benson orders Michigan to mail absentee applications to all voters” Riley Beggin (May 19, 2020) Bridge.
10. “The CARES Act Works for All Americans” US Department of the Treasury.
11. “Mail-in vs absentee voting: What’s the difference?” Zachary B Wolf (August 19, 2020) CNN Politics.
12. NCSL: National Conference of State Legislatures (home page).
13. “COVID-19: How’s it Changing Elections?” NCSLorg (May 7, 2020) YouTube.
14. “What to Consider When You’re Expecting More Absentee Voting” NCSLorg (May 15, 2020) YouTube.
15. “Moving to All-Mail Elections: Promises and Challenges” NCSLorg (May 21, 2020) YouTube.
16. “Let’s Talk About Voting Outside the Polling Place” NCSLorg (June 2, 2020) YouTube.
17. “Benson: 6,400 Michigan absentee ballots rejected for late arrival” Beth LeBlanc (August 14, 2020) The Detroit News.
18. “How a viral photo of USPS collection boxes became a lesson in misinformation” Rebecca Heilweil (August 19, 2020) Vox.
19. “Fact check: Wisconsin mailbox photo is not tied to ‘voter suppression’” Eric Litke (August 17, 2020) USA Today.
20. “Saline 48176 mailboxes and post offices” Mailbox Locate.
21. “USPS will stop removing letter collection boxes in Western states until after the election, spokesman says” Paul P Murphy (August 14, 2020) CNN Politics.
22. “Michigan has more than 700 absentee ballot drop-off locations – find the one you should use” (August 17, 2020) ABC WXYZ Detroit.