"Democrats Abroad is relieved that the US has agreed to stay in the Universal Postal Union, but we remain vigilant,” said Julia Bryan, Global Chair of Democrats Abroad. “We will closely follow the situation as postal rate changes are announced. Due to the uncertainty of the impact of these price increases, we strongly encourage all US states to provide secure online ballot delivery options for their voters living outside the States."
The 192 country members of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) have worked together to create a consensus solution designed to keep the US within the Union, and postal mail continuing to flow around the world. The compromise, named Option V for victory, includes phased in self-declared postal rates for larger member countries. United States representatives have stated that they will accept this option, thus maintaining postal service between the US and all other countries within the UPU. The impact on mailing to and from the US is not yet clear, as these rates have not yet been declared and will not be rolled out until the end of June next year.
In 2018, 67% of American voters abroad returned their ballots via postal mail, and nearly two in three were civilian voters. Democrats Abroad supported the majority of these voters through its ballot request tool (votefromabroad.org), phone banking outreach, and online help desk.
Bryan further stated, “Our voter protection team will continue monitoring voting abroad actions in every US state to ensure that we are ready to sound the alarm and stop GOP leaders when they purge voter rolls, attempt to block Americans from accessing voter information from abroad, or use other means to limit our access to the ballot box.”
Democrats Abroad encourages all Americans abroad to register and request your ballot early every year, to use electronic delivery options if they're available, and to monitor your ballot status to be sure your vote is counted. Voters with questions or issues to report should reach out to [email protected].
September 25, 2019
More information on the UPU agreement: http://news.upu.int/no_cache/nd/upu-member-countries-reach-unanimous-agreement-on-postal-remuneration-rates/