ELECTION MAIL TASK FORCES

NRLCA Partners With USPS to Establish Local Election Mail Task Forces

The Postal Service has consistently been rated as the most trusted government agency. However, due to recent changes in operations and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Postal Service has come under close scrutiny by Congress and the media regarding its ability to deliver mail in a timely manner — especially mail-in ballots for the 2020 election.

On September 3, the Postal Service, the NRLCA, and the other postal unions and management associations created the National Election Task Force to prepare for the expected increase in vote-by-mail ballots and to show the Postal Service can still perform at the highest levels. President Stutts has appointed NRLCA Vice President Don Maston and Director of Governmental Affairs Paul Swartz to serve on the National Election Task Force at NRLCA headquarters.

The task force has been meeting weekly and during the last meeting announced the formation of local election mail task forces that will coordinate a joint effort between all unions and managers to ensure mail-in ballots are properly handled and expedited by the USPS.

Each craft is developing strategies to identify the individuals designated as ambassadors to work jointly on local election task force teams. The NRLCA has a unique makeup as most of its members work in offices serving five or fewer routes. The NRLCA believes that every rural carrier should be working diligently to resolve or report any unusual handling of election ballots, essentially making all rural carriers the eyes and ears and guaranteeing election balloting and the USPS are successful. Simply put: If you see something, say something.

The logistical challenges that we face as a union given the makeup of our craft in many small offices across the country make it unrealistic to appoint a specific individual in every office to serve on local election task force teams. We also realize it is not realistic to expect our district representatives or state officers to submit a name from every office in the country to act as ambassadors on local teams.

The simplest and quickest solution is to allow local office management to identify a willing carrier to represent the rural craft in their office. Time is of the essence in getting these local task forces in place to safeguard the upcoming elections and the project will be relatively short term. Individuals assigned to a local task force will only work in their own office and will not be travelling to other offices.

Likewise, if you are interested in volunteering for this role, please speak with your manager.

While there may be some informational meetings for the local teams, they are not expected to take a great deal of time. However, the Postal Service has committed to compensating carriers for any time spent during these meetings.

Should an election ballot problem be identified in a local office that cannot be resolved at the local level, an NRLCA district representative will be notified so the issue may be resolved at the district level. If an issue is not resolved at the district level, an NRLCA executive committeeman will escalate the issue to the area level.

Please continue to check the NRLCA website for more information as it becomes available.

To read this article on the National Website, click here.