anon6789

Perfect. I appreciate it!

It is far from the end of the USPS’s problems. I did not intend to sound like I was discounting anything else you said. IIRC, they’re still the only entity required to fund themselves, and with declining volume, they can’t reduce service, but also have no power of their own to raise the price of mail. Right wingers have been trying to crush them for a long time, and it’s impressive they do what they do despite those efforts.

The postal workers union also seems to be struggling a lot, which can’t help things if all the workers are unhappy as well. I really feel bad for the USPS as it’s one of the few gov institutions that no normal person really seems to have anything against and they provide a valuable service for every American.

They need to fully fund their employees retirement health benefits 75 years into the future

This should have been done away with in the 2022 Postal Services Reform Act, signed by President Biden.

The specific part of that reform addressing this was the USPS Fairness Act, which since there is a bunch of news about it failing to be passed so many times, because looking up something called a Fairness Act is so generic a term, and because the US diverged from a path of sanity, I can’t find out if this is being enforced currently or what the heck the deal is, but that requirement is at least not supposed to exist anymore.

Our boxes also look like a postal box, just with a very narrow drop slot.

I think all ours are indoors at libraries and district courthouses.

There were some lawsuits here about people forgetting to date the ballots and I think that is why there’s a person there now to supervise drop offs.

Last year was noticeably different though with all the signs out front and people were stuck waiting as everything was being looked at during busy times because we didn’t have many drop off sites for how many people live here and they’re only open during business hours.

We got emails when our ballots have been received and then again when they’re counted.

I went back and reread it, and it says there’s an exemption if you all live in the same household. So I think if you live with your parents you can be designated for both of them, but if they live separately from you, you could only do one.

County drop box rules

Please be advised that you are only allowed to return your own ballot, unless you have a disability and a completed Authorized Designated Agent Form accompanies the returned ballot.

And then from the agent form:

Who can be a designated agent?

The person you designate as your agent is only allowed to serve as a designated agent for ONE voter, unless the additional voter(s) live in the same household as you (the voter named in this form

Last time I voted, they had signs all over the grass saying “One Person, One Ballot” and someone was guarding the box and checking envelopes.

Can you do that in other states? In Pennsylvania we can only return our own and, if you get designated by another person by filling out a form, and even then you can only be one person’s designated person.

The God Squad met most recently in 1992, when it granted an exemption for logging that would have harmed the northern spotted owl. (The request for the exemption was ultimately withdrawn.)

Only when the last renewable energy project has been canceled, the last owl has died, and the last whale been poisoned will we realize we cannot live in a dead ecosystem.