Please take action today to save the United States Postal Service. We need to protect our votes!
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is in a dire situation. According to the Postmaster General, between June and September of this year the USPS will run out of money and will be forced to cease operations. This, only months ahead of the November General Election.
Needless to say, without a functioning postal service, our votes from abroad will be effectively suppressed.
The USPS has had operating issues for over a decade. However, the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic have gravely exacerbated the issue of decreased volumes that has plagued the agency over the past years.
Unsurprisingly, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and Republican Members of Congress have to-date refused to include the Postal Service in any coronavirus relief legislation, privatizing mail delivery being a long-term goal of the conservative movement. Donald Trump reportedly had said that he would block emergency funding for the agency, putting at risk the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) if the legislation had contained any money directed to bail out the postal agency.
In this critical election year where we need every vote to be counted, we cannot standby and allow the next Coronavirus stimulus bill to exclude full funding and protection for the USPS and the vote-by-mail ballots sent by overseas voters.
Here is a quick, easy action that we all can take today! Use Resistbot to send an email to each of your Members of Congress. Resistbot will find out who represents you in Congress, turn your text into an email and deliver it to your representatives. 1-2-3.
Just go to Messenger, Twitter, Telegram (or iMessage if you are an iPhone user) and type Resistbot.
Note: the option to text 50409 via SMS does NOT work from an international number.
There are two options to send your message:
Recommended: Type “Congress” to create a message. Click here to access a script that we have written to address the issues of voters abroad.
2nd option: Type “USPS” to generate a generic text.
Then, follow the simple directions provided by Resistbot!
- Use your US voting address.
- When asked for your phone number use the international code for the country where you live followed by the phone number. (example: in France +33xxxxxxxxx)
Please take action! The potential demise of the USPS could disenfranchise voters abroad in November. If our voted ballots cannot be delivered, how will our votes be counted?
Many thanks to Sarah Epperson http://www.sarahepperson.com/about for allowing us to use her graphics. You can follow Sarah on Instagram @sarah.epperson.
Interested in learning more about Resistbot? Check out our blog post in our "Activism from Abroad" series.