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We Did Good!

We Did Good!
By Steve Shawver
Associate Member of Houston Branch 122 and Retired Postmaster of Lake Jackson, TX

As I write this in November, we know how the election turned out. We did good. The former Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity director claimed this was the most secure election ever. And there was record voter turnout.

Mail-in ballots were an integral part of the election. Of the five states that have all mail-in ballots, we didn’t hear anything about irregularities. Of the states that allowed absentee ballots, very little was heard regarding irregularities. Most of the noise we heard about mail-in ballots was political in nature.

Regardless, the U.S. Postal Service did its job in servicing outgoing and incoming election materials. We, the postal family, dropped our political ideologies because we have a more important role: We preserved the sanctity of the mail. We heard of a couple incidences that were dealt with by the appropriate persons and measures.

We should be proud of the job we did with the intense focus on the Postal Service this election season. The job was challenging and, each day, we were scrutinized for how we handled the mail. And we prevailed when cases of COVID-19 were dramatically increasing.

The pandemic is getting worse day by day. Hopefully, your employees won’t be sick. Whatever the circumstances, our postal family will step up and do a heroic job. I know it is difficult to work understaffed during the pandemic. Be sure to tell your employees what a good job they are doing and have done over the past year. I’m proud of them!