Apparently the advice to “Vote early and often” is too precious to be claimed by one source. Various historians attribute it to election campaigns in Chicago, Boston and Great Britain, and most recently to Richard J. Daley, notorious politician in Chicago in the 1950’s.

“Vote early and often” deserves a little updating, considering the problems with mail-in voting foreshadowed by the Postmaster General.  By cutting out overtime hours across the country, he has jeopardized the prompt delivery of election ballots on November 3.

This is a non-partisan appeal to every voter in Missouri: Please mail your election ballots by October 27, the date recommended by the Postmaster General, considering his overtime cutbacks. C’mon, these are not hard decisions. By the end of September we will have heard all we can stand to hear from national and local candidates. Put that ballot in the mail and turn on the mute button every time a political ad comes up on television.  And just to be sure, put a first-class stamp on the ballot. We know the P.O. has to process those first.

For the over-burdened postal workers, here is some more free advice. Take all the bulk mail from October 27 on and pile it in a corner until after Election Day. This will let the higher class mail get to my mailbox more efficiently. What you do with it after that is between you and the Postmaster General. I will not miss receiving it.

No mail should be  moved after October 27 except first class mail and election ballots.  If the Postmaster General wants to set priorities for delivery, first class mail is a good place to start.  For those politicians who waited till after October 27 to get their bulk voter appeals out, shame on you! You don’t deserve my vote anyway.  Learn to meet a deadline!

As for voting often, I would not publicly advocate for it, but let all registrars beware! If you are dumb enough to send out too many ballots to one address, then the Democrats should be allowed to take advantage of it. I say “Democrats”  because we know that Republicans never commit voter fraud.  Since Democrats are well-known voting swindlers, they should live up to their reputations and cast as many ballots as they get. So vote often!

If at least the Democrats get all their ballots mailed by October 27, we should have a fair election. No need to prompt the Republicans.  I expect them to take personal responsibility for voting, since that is their sacred value.  No excuses, no tolerance, no whining: the Republican motto.

So, to recap: vote early, vote often, no bulk mail, no excuses.

Managing the mail is much easier than I thought.