Shenanigans at my local USPS office - Heads up, people!

[MontanaMama]

Went in to my local post office this afternoon to do some parcel shipping. I've noticed that the station closest to my house recently removed 3 of the 4 outdoor drive up mail drop boxes and the main USPS station in the middle of my city has removed 4 of the 6 outdoor drive up drop boxes. The little station on the west side of town has gone from 4 drop boxes to 1. I asked the desk clerk if he had any intel on why this was happening. I was the only person at the desk and he said "How do I say this without getting political?" My response was "Get political, I'm here for it." He said "USPS doesn't want ballots." I said "For real?" He said "Yes and you didn't hear it from me."

There you have it. Take it for what it's worth. I live in blue Missoula, Montana. Of course they don't want our ballots. PLEASE make sure you have a voting plan. I do not believe we can count on our USPS any longer.

[bluestarone]

1. They did the same thing in my town, but

That was like 4 years ago. Really hard to find a mail box for awhile.

[Alice Kramden]

2. KnR

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. That is absolutely horrifying. Cutting you off at the ballot box??? No way.

[MontanaMama]

4. Right??

I ALWAYS take my ballot to the voter office myself but so many people cannot. They do not want ballots in the mail. I wouldn't take the chance with my vote at this point. No way, no how.

[dem4decades]

5. I mailed out grandson's valentine's card on February 10th, he lives a half hour away.

He received his card on February 24th, postmarked on the 10th. If it was a vote instead of a card it wouldn't count anymore, right?

[MontanaMama]

10. No it wouldn't.

When I mail a card or letter to someone in my own city, often it goes 250 miles west to Spokane for a postmark and then back to Missoula for delivery. What sense does that make?

I'm sorry your grandson's valentine was late. Darn it.

[Tasmanian Devil]

27. Mail between PO boxes in our little town ... goes to Denver before getting delivered

I thought it was so stupid. And then I remembered that I get "USPS Informed Delivery". I.e. photos of my incoming mail before it's delivered.

They're routing mail to the large sorting stations so the outsides can get photographed.

I doubt that "Informed delivery" is the real reason. It's tracking and law enforcement.

[Ms. Toad]

6. If your post office is like the ones around here -

There is no need for more than one drive-up drop box at any location other than tax day - and then they typically stand and collect the tax returns at the entrance.

[MontanaMama]

12. It is a city of 125,000

including the bedroom communities on the outskirts. 4 drive up boxes doesn't cut it. I have often seen mail spilling out of the drop boxes in the late afternoon.

[Ms. Toad]

20. Mine serves around 700,000

I've literally never waited behind even a single person in line to drop mail off, except for tax day.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

7. Can you deliver your ballots to your City/County Government Center?

When we voted in 2020, my husband dropped off our ballots to our County Government Center.

Minnesota has early in person voting at a designated polling place 6 weeks prior to the General Election up to the day before. Voting that way makes sure our vote is secured and safely paced.

[MontanaMama]

13. We can and do exactly that.

Unfortunately, lots of folks don't. I'm very worried that ballots won't even be delivered to voters let alone make it back to the voting office via USPS.

[spanone]

8. K&R

[hunter]

9. The problem in our town was smash-and-grab mail thefts.

Mailboxes were removed or replaced with more robust boxes.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. The outdoors drop boxes are subject to vandalism and theft.

I don't ever put anything important in an outdoors drop box. I always go inside to drop off a letter. My closest PO is in a bluer than you can imagine neighborhood.

[MontanaMama]

15. These are the big blue metal boxes outside

the actual post office. They're emptied at 4pm local time by USPS personnel. I guess they could be vandalized but in the 50+ years I've lived here, I've never seen it. The problem (one of many) that I see is that the desk clerk told me that USPS doesn't want our ballots. I would worry even if I were to walk my ballot inside the office.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

25. Send a pic, please. I think I know what you mean.

Not the ones that used to be located in neighborhoods.

[BigmanPigman]

17. Yup, that's why I may everything from inside the Post Office.

Tons of my mail was screwed up about 3 years ago and I researched this topic and ever since I go inside to mail everything. Some people throw Big Gulps, stuff on fire, etc into the outdoor mail boxes at the actual Post Office.

[patphil]

14. if you vote by mail, make sure your ballot can withstand the most critical scrutiny, and deliver it to the Post Office.

Also, be sure to vote as early as possible.

[MontanaMama]

16. That's the problem.

Delivering it to the post office is probably a bad idea, at least here. The desk clerk told me USPS doesn't want the ballots. I'm taking him at his word. Just because the ballot is walked into the post office doesn't mean it'll be handled correctly.

[patphil]

22. That's true, but it's the best you can do if you have to vote by mail.

In person voting is better, if there isn't some kind of vote blocking situation going on in your district.
What we need is huge numbers of voters on the Democratic side.

[mysteryowl]

18. We have ballot boxes at our county service center, not mailed, hand carried.

We also can go online to check that our ballets have been counted.
It is on the Sec. of State website for voting. Don't all states have ways to check on the status of peoples' ballots?

[mysteryowl]

19. It is very disappointing and not surprising.

[0rganism]

21. Clearly we can't rely on mailing in ballots, but will we even receive them in time?

Voting in Oregon, I regularly drop my ballot off at the county elections office, avoiding the USPS for returns. However, as a vote-by-mail state, registered voters all receive our ballots in the mail, usually at least a week before election day. If that "week before" turns into "2 days after", we're gonna have a problem.

[usonian]

23. I take mine to the county clerk's office.

No USPS at all.

[Maru Kitteh]

24. I'm going to go by the POs in Kalispell, WF and Columbia Falls.

See if they’re up to the same thing. I’ll have a look tomorrow and let you know.

[orangecrush]

26. Thanks for sharing this

[Buddyzbuddy]

28. As far as I can tell, in Ontario, CA the post office has removed all drop off mail boxes.

Since 2019.

[AllaN01Bear]

29. ""

there are several options where i live .1: mail. if that gets cut off , i hope somonme sues , 2: drop boxes .( they are maintaained and emptied by the sherrifs office . 3: centeral eletions , about 1:: mi from me.

[Hope22]

30. We request our absentee ballots..

When they arrive we fill them out and then drive the ballots to the BOE. Of course the state has new rules for who can drop off ballots. There is a form that has to be signed if we want to drop off another household members ballot at the BOE. Anything to make things harder. I have never mailed my ballot back. Too many problems with USPS.