This week’s electionlineWeekly focuses on a new report recommending the U.S. Postal Service do more to encourage vote-by-mail and the USPS’ response. As always, Mindy Moretti has the story:
The U.S. Postal Service is the largest self-funded agency of the U.S. government and is supported entirely by revenue from postage and products.
Because of that, unlike most federal agencies that are always looking for ways to cut costs, the Postal Service is also always looking for ways to boost revenue.
Therefore, with the increasing popularity of vote-by-mail, the Office of the Inspector General of the USPS (USPSOIG) set out to evaluate voting methods to identify opportunities to increase voting by mail and therefore revenues for an agency that has struggled under budget constraints and the changing mailing habits of Americans.
Earlier this month the USPSOIG released a report recommending that the agency develop a plan to encourage vote-by-mail not only as a revenue booster for the agency, but also to boost voter turnout.
The Postal Service response to the OIG report? A polite thanks, but no thanks.