This past Saturday, as reported in The Sunday Denver Post (p. 2B), the Colorado Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, was forced to file a lawsuit against the United States Postal Service. Her office learned on Thursday the USPS planned to send out mailers to every household in the nation, but with misinformation- i.e. it does not "align with state election rules". This is mega serious given we already are aware how Trump Toady Louis DeJoy is already slowing mail to a crawl by nixing overtime as well as mass-destroying sorting machines, e.g.
This latest insult to the electoral system may well be weathered by an experienced mail ballot state like Colorado, but what about the less experienced states only now gearing up for an absentee-mail ballot avalanche? In her complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Denver, Ms. Griswold wrote (ibid.):
"This attempt at voter suppression violates the United States Constitution and federal statutes and must be stopped immediately".
In addition, Griswold filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to block the postal service from sending out the misleading mailers. A postal service spokesman (David Rupert) admitted to the Post thousands of the mailers had already been sent out last Thursday and Friday and "the rest are to be sent out next week." That means over 2 million Colorado voters will receive the defective cards. Will it mislead them or get them to do the wrong thing? Only time will tell, and one hopes voters are aware of what's going on, but that assumes they read the papers.
Rupert in his Post interview claimed the mailers were innocuous and only meant to "inform voters of the importance of planning ahead if they plan to vote by mail."
He added: "Some of it applies to everyone and some doesn't."
In other words, rather than design each mailer for each state, i.e. to meet its own regs for mail ballots, the USPS basically (and lazily) just designed one and sent it out to voters in all states, irrespective of differing rules. The effect will be that the information is wrong for most voters in most states.
For example, the mailer sent to Colorado voters incorrectly asks that they request a mail ballot 15 days before the election and return the ballots by mail at least 7 days before the election. But as Ms. Griswold notes (ibid.):
"In Colorado every registered voter is sent ballot without having to make a request and voters are urged to return ballots sooner than 7 days before the election." Indeed, in this election - given the chaos at the USPS thanks to DeJoy - Colorado voters are better served by using drop boxes.
DeJoy again at the center of this mess? Of course. Griswold notified the Post that secretaries of state had asked DeJoy (as Postmaster General) to review the draft of election information on the mailers, but he refused. This review was intended to ensure the mailers were accurate before sending to voters. Hence, we may conclude DeJoy wanted to release deliberately erroneous mailers to add to the chaos already sown by destroying hundreds of mail sorting machines.
Other states, namely Washington and California, have also expressed concern over their voters getting the wrong information on the postcards. As Ms. Griswold told the Post:
"These false statements on these mailers will disenfranchise Colorado voters, including its uniform military and overseas voters, by misleading them about Colorado's election processes. It also infringes Colorado's constitutional rights to conduct its elections while interfering with the Secretary of State's ability to oversee Colorado's elections.
"These false statements will confuse Colorado's voters, likely causing otherwise eligible voters to wrongly believe they may not participate in the upcoming election."
On the plus side, Colorado voters - at least two thirds of us - have voted by mail since 2013 and know our way 'around the block'. It is the new be's who just moved here not long ago who might be fooled. So it is critical for the Secretary of State to get the correct information out, a task rendered much more difficult with DeJoy's stunt.
Meanwhile, what we have gleaned so far is this Postmaster General is not a friend or ally of voters. He is an impediment. Indeed, he emerges as a de facto mail voting saboteur appointed by Trump to wreck the coming elections. This will make it easier for Hitler Jr. to claim - as he said again on Saturday (to cheering supporters at a rally in Nevada). “I am going to start by saying that the Democrats are trying to rig this election because it’s the only way they are going to win.”
In truth saying such rubbish and repeating it is HIS only way to try to sneak in, by sowing lies, chaos and disruption. Just as his lapdog Michael Caputo has assisted him by spreading malicious lies about "left wing hit squads" taking to the streets. Trump knows in his feral, orange heart he's on a losing trajectory irrespective of just about anything he pulls. He knows this because he knows at least a plurality of voters have figured out this wretch who claims he will "save" them -- from whatever threat (e.g. "Antifa") - will do nothing of the sort. As one guest on Real Time on Friday night put it: "They know he's the arsonist as well as the fireman."
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by David Atkins | September 14, 2020 - 7:14am | permalink
