rural communities DEPEND ON USPS JUST AS MUCH IF NOT MORE than big cities so this post is for red, blue & purple America

Atlanta postmaster was quietly replaced recently and local media, still, hasn’t covered it. My post on that topic is still up and I’m hoping to interview sources to augment that reporting so please be in touch if you work at United States Postal Service or know someone who does.

Weird how ratf*cking USPS has spokespeople running for exits [UPDATED]

Meantime we have an Atlanta NextDoor group up-and-running to advocate how to fight back against (just as a reminder, COMPLETELY F-ING ILLEGAL) sabotage of USPS. I suggest you do the same for your NextDoor neighborhood wherever you are—you’ll find MANY like-minded neighbors passionate about saving our oldest federal institution. I know I did.

ACTION ITEMS

I’d been planing to write a post on how to fight back against ANOTHER REPUBLICAN ELECTION THEFT but why recreate the wheel when perfection exists? Secure-voting advocate and Twitter gal pal Jennifer Cohn has a Medium post up with many of the most important ways to “mitigate threats against voting.”

Jenny has 20 great points and I’ll underscore a few for our purposes:

• Return ballots in person. Under normal circumstances we’d want to give USPS the business of mailing ballots, but these are NOT normal times. Your county has designated official dropboxes for voters to deliver ballots in person. I did just that and it took under 3 minutes.
• Confirm your registration, repeatedly. “Confirm your voter registration several times between now and the election,” Jenny Cohn writes. “Save a screenshot of the registration confirmation as proof.” Use my Voter Help page to do just that and more.
• Volunteer as pollworker and watcher. As I type right-wing nutbags are summoning voter-suppression army like “True the Vote” (LOL) and others whose primary objective is to block and/or intimidate brown people from voting. Here’s how to fight back.

MISCELLANY

• Don’t forget down-ballot races. Dominionist nutbags have been salivating for literally decades over holding Article V Constitutional Convention to rewrite our country’s terms in eyes of their “higher power,” so voting down-ballot races is also critical. Your entire ballot will help shape redistricting for a decade so make SURE you fill in everything.
• Follow your ballot to the finish line. After leaving a LOT of time for my Fulton County absentee runoff-ballot to arrive, I filled it out, signed and sealed it. I then dropped it off in person AND logged on to Fulton County’s voter system to make sure it was logged in. Here’s a screen grab:

• Use ResistBot to write letters. Pressure campaigns work, even if senators in red states are codifying Trump-administration* sabotage with silence. Text “USPS” to 50409 and keep in mind, iPhone users: ResistBot can switch you over to iMessage so you don’t incur data charges. You can also DM ResistBot on Twitter, 24/7.
  

• Buy stamps. Revenue to USPS is also important at this moment when acts of sabotage converge with decades-long right-wing fever dream of privatizing USPS and killing postal unions. (Seriously, it’s what they want.) Support your post office by buying stamps; I just purchased a few packets of Gwen Ifill commemoratives so I’m memorializing a journalism hero while also supporting the post office.

• Follow USPS on Twitter. Great suggestion from Twitter pal Devin Cow. Building their following will make it MUCH harder for right-wingers to strangle USPS in the bathtub.

• Make calls. Call your representatives and give them a piece of your mind, nicely. Even voicemails are logged by staff and count toward the mission; I called Speaker Pelosi’s office 2 days before she announced an impeachment inquiry, and in a teeny-tiny way I contributed to pressure to make that happen. Your calls and letters matter. Phone the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202.224.3121.

If I’ve left something off please mention in the comments. Feel free to share this post because it applies to my Fulton County, Ga., brothers and sisters but also our friends and family across this great nation. Remember: rural communities DEPEND ON USPS JUST AS MUCH IF NOT MORE than big cities; even though this post has a progressive slant we are defending EVERY part of this country from sabotage.

Let’s do this. I’ll update this post as events warrant. 👊

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Will Pollock is a perpetually crabby New York City escapee based in Midtown Atlanta. He’s a freelance multimedia journalist, media analyst and author of two books (award-winning Pizza for Good & Leaving Triscuit), with more on the way.

In 2001, Will earned his Masters from The Medill School of Journalism, graduating with highest honors from the magazine sequence. As permanent member of Journalism’s National Honors Society, he’s been active in monitoring, writing and blogging about media and journalism ever since he graduated.

Obsessed with good storytelling and journalistic excellence, Will uses snark, humor and reason to distill dumb shit and make it fun. He’s a seeker/maker of non-consensus news, and helps you cure crankies by finding the nut in every story.

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