Montana's mail woes: A challenge to democracy

In our vast and often brutal Montana landscape, USPS workers frequently brave blizzards and slick October and November roads to deliver election ballots. Too frequently, their most challenging battle is against a lack of resources.

Postal delays are more than an inconvenience; they threaten the accuracy and security of Montana’s elections.

In the early 2010s, rumors of closing the Missoula and Kalispell sorting centers stirred concern among Montanans, rightfully so. Today, as the USPS grapples with hiring troubles and resource shortages, postal employees express similar concerns that further losses will reduce the reliability of our mail system.

Montana’s ballots go out 25 days before Election Day — a timeline that once felt comfortable but now cuts it close. Hand-delivered letters to the local post office often take four or five days to be delivered to P.O. boxes in that same office.

In a state where elections frequently hinge on a handful of votes, the impact of continued service reductions will be extreme.

Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines are vocal advocates for protecting Montana’s postal delivery resources, but Reps. Ryan Zinke and Matt Rosendale need to step up. This is a non-partisan issue that can be resolved with the entirety of our congressional delegation actively engaging with the problem.

Reach out to our congressmen and let them know we want accurate elections that allow all legal Montana voters to vote.

Of note, Montanans can track their ballots online using the outdated Secretary of State website — under construction more often than I-90 through Butte — that leaves citizens dealing with dead links and poorly designed interfaces. A recent update aimed for a modern touch, but issues continue.

Montanans deserve better than what they receive from the Post Office, and further reductions will harm more than election integrity. It is appropriate to expect more of our elected officials in order to protect the USPS, a service essential to our democracy.

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Jesse James Mullen is the founder of Mullen Newspapers, which operates community newspapers across the Rocky Mountain West, including nine Montana newspapers. He lives in Deer Lodge and is a Democratic candidate for secretary of state.