Apparently, one of the hold-ups over passage of a new coronavirus relief package is funding for the United States Postal Service.  It is truly amazing how they find a cause in thin air.  Not speaking for everyone, but my Facebook is full of pro-USPS funding screeds from the more liberal friends.  Holding up funding is an alleged “evil plan” by Trump to thwart mail-in voting in the upcoming election.

Let’s look at the record of the Postal Service in this area, shall we?  According to realclearpolitics:

Between 2012 and 2018, 28.3 million mail-in ballots remain unaccounted for, according to data from the federal Election Assistance Commission. The missing ballots amount to nearly one in five of all absentee ballots and ballots mailed to voters residing in states that do elections exclusively by mail.

States and local authorities simply have no idea what happened to these ballots since they were mailed – and the figure of 28 million missing ballots is likely even higher because some areas in the country, notably Chicago, did not respond to the federal agency’s survey questions. This figure does not include ballots that were spoiled, undeliverable, or came back for any reason.

In just the 2016 and 2018 elections, when mail-in voting and absentee ballots were more in use, 16 million ballots went missing.  In other words, 12 million go missing from 2012-2016, and 16.3 million go missing from 2016-2018.  That is not a great record.  Even NPR did a fact check on Trump’s assertion that that mail-in voting was subject to fraud and concluded he was partially correct, although they nuanced the analysis.

This writer understands the fears of traditional in-person voting.  It is the same fears which are unfounded that lead to people their bitching about opening schools.  These same unfounded fears allow people to worry about standing in line six feet apart to vote, yet they lack those worries in the supermarket or liquor store.  If grocery stores are “essential” in this age of the Wuhan flu, voting stations are even more essential.

In April of this year, The Hill ran a story about mail-in voting and they used the example of Oregon to make a point.  Since 2000, Oregon has used an all-mail voting system.  Says that article:

Oregon is the state that started mailing ballots to all voters in 2000 and has worked diligently to put in place stringent security measures, as well as strict punishments for those who would tamper with a mailed ballot. For that state, the following numbers apply: With well over 50 million ballots cast, there have been only two fraud cases verifiable enough to result in convictions for mail-ballot fraud in 20 years. That is 0.000004 percent — about five times less likely than getting hit by lightning in the United States.

With all due respect to The Hill, that is the known cases.  The known cases are the ones that get caught and prosecuted.  A case in point is in order from neck of the woods a couple of years ago, and one more recent.  A few years back, in a county-level election, 450 absentee ballots were found in the trunk of a car of a Democrat operative who attempted to deliver them to the County Clerk the day after the election.  Many were found to be fraudulent using forged signatures and addresses that were empty lots.  No charges were filed as the perpetrator entered into a consent decree with the prosecutor.  Under the rules of liberal think tanks like the Brennan Center and liberal writers for The Hill, there was no fraud.

More recently in a local municipal election, a Republican woman won a seat on City Council…or so she thought until several ballots showed up which flipped the election.  Although she pursued the case in court, the case was eventually dismissed after she ran out of legal funds and not wanting to bankrupt herself, conceded defeat.  Again, under these rules, there is no fraud when there was obvious fraud.  Because it was not criminally investigated or followed through on in a civil case, move along folks…nothing to see here.

More than half the electoral fraud in the United States involves either the voter registration process, or the fraudulent use of absentee ballots.  About 37% of documented cases are caught at the polls via duplicate voting and/or ineligible voters.  The remainder involves cases like altering vote counts or fraudulent ballot petitions.  In fact, absentee ballot abuse- i.e., usually mail-in or harvested ballots- accounts for about one-third of all election fraud cases.  Yes- the gross numbers may not be that large given the number of votes cast, but YES- these are only the cases documented through civil or criminal action.

It does not matter how much money the government throws at the USPS since there are nefarious actors who have no reservations against election fraud who may simply bypass the Postal Service.  Secondly, the record of the Postal Service is not particularly stellar, nor is the record of election officials who have obviously failed to follow up on 28.3 million misplaced, lost, stolen, or discarded mail-in ballots.

Most importantly, although Oregon may have a “good record” in this area, they have been doing it for two decades now.  One would think they have the necessary safeguards and security protections in place by now.  However, combatting election fraud is like playing Whack-a-Mole.  You stop it at the actual polling place and it pops up with mail-in voting.  You stop it there, they adjust tactics and abuse the voter registration system.  And on it goes.

Finally, there is another consideration- the delay in announcing results.  This election is expected to be close in many key swing states.  Oregon, California and Washington are NOT swing states that utilize mail-in voting.  However, adequate systems are not set up in states like Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin, or Pennsylvania- all states that will likely decide the outcome.  Are we to wait days or weeks for them to announce the results…and they damn well better get them correct.  Otherwise, you will have a rehash of Florida 2000 spread across many states.  Case in point: This year, the runoff in the GOP Texas primary in the 23rd District was held on July 14.  A month later, we still do not know the results.  Case in point:  In the Michigan primaries, only 900,000 people showed up to vote as 1.6 million of 2.5 million votes were cast by mail.  Case in point: Nearly 25% of all ballots cast by mail in the June New York primaries in Brooklyn were deemed invalid.

The fears of in-person voting are unfounded.  If you can shop in a crowded WalMart, you can show up to vote, socially distance, wash your hands with sanitizer until your skin falls off, and wear three face thongs over your mouth and nose.  To hold up a pending Wuhan virus relief bill over unfounded fears and Democrat/state-sanctioned abuse of the electoral system at the hands of Pelosi and Schumer is the ultimate in democratic election malfeasance.  Who needs China or Russia to interfere in the election process when you have these Democrat Congressional “leaders?”