I continue to be baffled why people claim there is no possibility of vote-by-mail fraud. The system is so full of holes that I believe it should be banned. Here’s another reason why.
Each state has their own rules on when a mail-in ballot must be delivered in order to be counted. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, only 19 states allow mail-in votes to be counted if they’re delivered after, yet postmarked on or before, election day. So, in 31 states, if your ballot doesn’t get delivered by election day, it won’t get counted. That includes battleground states such as Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The American Postal Workers Union has endorsed Joe Biden for President. Let me say that again. The people who are responsible for on-time delivery of your mail-in ballot have openly declared their desire for Joe Biden to win. Tell me that this isn’t a conflict of interest. In past elections, where mail-in-voting represented a small fraction of the total ballots, this probably wasn’t a big deal. But, in 2020? Yeah, it’s a big deal.
Before I continue, I’m going to say that I believe that the vast majority of postal workers are good people. But, as with any group of humans, some of them are not. The USPS employees 600,000 employees and it’s unreasonable to believe that every single one of those 600,000 humans is honest and honorable.
Imagine a scenario where, on late election night, Joe Biden appears to be the winner of the election. But, there are still literally tons of mail-in ballots left undelivered. Those ballots can contain votes for either President Trump or Joe Biden. No one knows for sure until the ballots are opened and counted. Once a ballot is opened, then it becomes a vote for one candidate or the other.
Now, let’s imagine that a few bad actors in the post office decided that since Joe Biden was already ahead, and the mail-in votes could easily favor President Trump, it would be best if the votes weren’t delivered on time.
I ordered a package from Amazon a couple of months ago. Since I have Amazon Prime, it should have taken two days to arrive. I had a tracking number so I could see that it was being delivered by the USPS and the shipment originated in Idaho. Then, for some unexplained reason, my package went to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where it sat for 9 days. It was so late that Amazon repeatedly offered me a refund which I declined because I was confident it would eventually arrive. Ultimately, it made its way to California and I received my order. Nearly two weeks later than promised.
Is it probable that rogue postal workers will purposely delay delivery of the ballots? Probable? No. But is it possible? Absolutely.
I’m not suggesting that this will happen. I’m saying it could happen. We’ve already had numerous examples of mail with ballots being dumped in the ditches and dumpsters, so this isn’t outside the realm of possibility. Remember, in 31 states they don’t have to destroy the ballots, they only have to delay their delivery by one day.
The moral of this story is: If you’re voting by mail, and you want to guarantee your ballot will be counted, then you should personally deliver it to an official drop-off box.
