Postage Stamp Politics
It’s hard to not be amazed at the stunning stupidity of extreme liberals. Then again, one should expect stunning stupidity from extreme liberals.
A case came up just today regarding voter registrations and the cost of a stamp. The liberals in question are concerned that the cost of stamp will hamper voter registration.
The solution, amazing enough, is to spend $1.08 to save voter registrants the agony of spending $0.49 to register to vote.
Please consider Oregon State Lawmakers Discover New Barrier to Voting – the Postage Stamp.
During the past year, Oregon’s Democratic legislators have strained to discover barriers to participation in the state’s vote-by-mail system, which delivers ballots conveniently to voters’ mailboxes and provides a lengthy period in which to return them.
Last year’s barrier was the burden of registering to vote. The Legislature fixed that problem by requiring Driver and Motor Vehicle Services employees to help register people automatically and without their consent.
This year’s barrier is the 49-cent stamp. Seriously.
By a 3-2 vote along party lines, the Senate Rules Committee this week approved a bill that would require the state to cover the return postage for all ballots. Voters who mail their ballots are expected to buy a stamp, though ballots also can be delivered by hand to numerous drop sites.
At about $1.08 per envelope, the mandate could cost the state $1.84 million during the 2017-19 biennium
Reader Andy who emailed the story commented “Oregon’s public employee retirement fund is underfunded by nearly 22 billion and our representatives are concerned about a 49 cent stamp!”
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Umm, so if you’re not “an extreme liberal”, then you don’t suffer from “stunning stupidity”? No? Yes?
It must be a slow news day for you. Your “post” is an embarrassment, Mish.
Chill Dude. You can afford a 49 cent stamp after you pay off your student loan for the degree in modern dance with a minor in rap music.
Don’t think you know Leo.
Leo soooo solly. Leo not too swift
Why don’t the liberal pols just send an absentee ballot volunteer to visit the homes of the voters to deliver the ballot, fill in the ballot then serve as a courier service to the Registrar of Voters office for drop-off? That would eliminate two $0.49 stamps. Throw in a free cup of coffee at the next local dem committee meeting. Promote it as a means to reduce the deficit.
Tell the illegal aliens to put the stamp on their EBT cards.
Government penny wise but pound foolish. Since they are registering voters without their permission why not just fill in the ballot for them.
Did having proper voter ID have a role? You know, that thing that lets you actually have a right to vote in an election.
Oregon is a weird state. They are pretty pro-second amendment but mostly pretty liberal otherwise (not that that is always a bad thing). It is the only state with a law against pumping your own gas. A gas station attendant there told me he is not even allowed to pump his gas at a station where he is not employed. Here are some more weird Oregon laws:
http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/united-states/oregon
One is forbidden from pumping one’s own gas in the not-so-great State of New Jersey as well.
Thanks for that correction James & Bob. I have never been to New Jersey and hope I never will go there.
You don’t won’t to come here. Garbage state rip you of in property tax. Most cops local police county police state police smallest state pay out are ass
You can’t pump your own gas in New Jersey, either.
Unlike the stupidy of extreme conservatives? With the exception of Kasich or Paul the entire Republican field epitomizes extreme stupidity and is extreme. It’s embarassing really but i’ll take a bunch of Liberals wringing their offer stamps vs. Conservatives itching to start another war.
Like bombing Libya to put Al Qaeda in power. How about bombing Syria to get ISIS in power. Which Republican is behind that? Was it the Republican Hitlerty Clinton or Barak 0bomber? The entire democrat potty is full of psychopathic idiots
Why should they pay. For this Americans are tiered of paying look at the high taxes from the government. All the political get big donations let them pay for it come on. Look at Christie who had a million left when he jumped out take that money to pay for envelope and stamp. Wow all ready . I’m looking from the outside this sick how much money is spent on this. What’s really sick I found a elderly women that was on Craig’s list that needed food till the first of March when she gets her check she paid her bills she had no money for food. she left her number I had ask my brother in law to screener to.see if she was fake he is man God and he got her on the speaker phone and her name was Marie in bricktown Nj she was telling my brother-in-law about everybody on craigslist told her to go eat dog food they would have sexual encounters with her for food she tried calling the churches she had no way of getting there to get the food they were all closed so they told her she has to come in on the days that they’re open but she has no transportation so when we call this lady Maria we told her we will get her the food we will bring it to her house we call the Calvary Church in Lakewood New Jersey who opened doors to give us bags of food for this lady this lady thanked us so much she was crying so bad that it made us cry as 50-year-old man the moral of the story stop trying to get the money off the people we are all trying to pay our bills
Exact. Free return postage is an efficiency – imagine millions of people going out of their way for stamps or delivery boxes etc. I guess some think participation in elections is something people love to go out of their way for.
Buying a stamp is such a burden. It’s akin to slavery
What’s next? Reimbursing my mileage and time to vote? How about reimbursing my time to ponder who I should vote for?….or not vote at all?
How about you reimbursing everyone for the cost of the government you vote in?
Gee… who’s going to pay me the most for my vote?
Let Mish stick to economics, not politics. Maybe he could solve the Oregon public pension crisis as he is an investment advisor. i’m from Michigan, we would just be happy with clean water for our cities…….. All politicians are greedy…. so don’t make it a liberal vs. conservative issue
Voting by mail is wide open to so much fraud. I can imagine that apartment complex dumpster diving after a ballot mailing would allow one to vote many multiple times. I voted by absentee ballot while in the military. Once, when I didn’t get a ballot in a timely manner, I wrote them to say that I hadn’t received a ballot. As a result, when the ballots were mailed, apparently all late, I received TWO ballots. Of course, I only voted once and destroyed the duplicate. Yes, really. Now, I don’t even bother to participate in the farce of national level voting for all bought and paid for candidates, voting only on local matters.
This isn’t as simple as you make it out to be Mish. It’s not the 49 cent cost that’s the issue. People in the lower strata are less likely to have stamps available and less likely to have the time to go to the post office to buy a stamp. Sending along prestamped cards makes it far more likely that they’ll register to vote. I’m not a liberal but a pragmatist and I’d say that this is a pragmatic thing to do if the aim is to get as many of the citezenry as possible to get their voice heard. Far from stupidity.
I always vote by mail. I’ve asked the post office, “what happens if there’s not a stamp on my ballot?” The answer was that they “will deliver them anyway, as they don’t want to be seen as interfering in the vote.” This is a non-issue. Must be slow times in Salem.
Is that a standard USPS policy? Does it also apply to voter registration? If so, then all Oregon has to do is to write on the voter registration “No postage required” so that everyone knows. Until that happens…..