**August 3, 2020**

Kuttner on TAP

Going Postal: Be Careful What You Wish For

****

Ever since Oregon pioneered universal vote-by-mail-it began as an
option for local elections in 1981 and became mandatory in 2000-the
idea seemed a brilliant cure for low turnout and Election Day hassles.
Today, some 77 percent of Americans have the option of requesting
mail-in ballots.

But the sponsors of vote-by-mail did not reckon with a variety of
ordinary postal screw ups and lost ballots, much less the pressures of a
pandemic, the deliberate destruction of the Postal Service by Donald
Trump, plus all of the opportunities for Republican mischief that will
come from not knowing the winner for weeks after Election Day.

New York and New Jersey, both governed by Democrats and with no evidence
of deliberate voter suppression or fiddling with the count, provide
sickening previews of what we can expect in November. New Jersey's
Democratic primary was July 7-four weeks ago. Several counties have
yet to report final results.

The New York Democratic primary was held June 23. As Brittany Gibson has
reported

in the

**Prospect**, six weeks later two key Congressional races have yet to be
called because of a backlog of mail-in ballots.

Six weeks from Election Day is December 15. That's one day

**after** the Electoral College meets state by state to declare the
winner.

There is no easy remedy. One need is for far more poll workers. Another
absolute imperative is to fully fund the Postal Service, including
plenty of money for overtime. I've been assured by a top aide to
Speaker Nancy Pelosi that though postal funding has not gotten much
publicity in the coverage of negotiations over the next relief bill, it
is at the top of her list.

Let's hope so. I don't know about you, but I'm planning to put on
my mask and vote in person.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter

Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

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Gangster Antitrust and the Conservative Fight to Burn Fossil Fuels

An op-ed calling financial-industry resistance to financing oil and gas
production an antitrust violation reflects a troubling trend of using
antitrust for political ends. BY HAL SINGER

Big Tech Earnings Confirm Allegations of Excessive Market Power

The Big Four companies took in $206 billion in revenue in the same
quarter the economy fell off a cliff. BY DAVID DAYEN

Unsanitized: Why a Relief Bill Is So Elusive This Time

Plus, phantom teacher hirings and the world's largest biker rally.
This is The COVID-19 Daily Report for August 3, 2020. BY DAVID DAYEN

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