SUMMARY
With just days until the first ballots are set to be mailed to voters, a whistleblower inside the U.S. Postal Service is warning that a new delivery system could disrupt the handling of election mail and potentially put the midterm elections at risk. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Jacob Bogage of Reuters.
View the transcript of the story.
Short on time? Watch the video and complete the following See, Think, Wonder questions: What did you notice? What did the story make you think? What would you want to learn more about?
News alternative: Check out our recent segments from the News Hour, and choose the story you’re most interested in watching. Then make a copy and answer these general discussion questions.
WARM-UP QUESTIONS
- What are the concerns raised by the whisteblower about the new delivery system and the midterm elections?
- Who signed an executive order seeking to restrict mail-in voting and asks states to verify everyone who casts a ballot is a citizen (note: non-citizen voting is already illegal)?
- Where does control over elections lie, under the Constitution? With the state governments or the federal government?
- Why would this new delivery system make it so that the federal government would play a much larger role at the local and state level?
- How did ballots used to be treated in mail processing facilities, according to Jacob Bogage?
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
Do you think the new system restricting mail-in ballots is making voting and elections in America more democratic or less? Explain.
Media literacy: Reporters often have limited time for their interviews, particularly broadcast news reporters. If you could ask Jacob Bogage one more question as part of this interview, what would it be?
WHAT STUDENTS CAN DO
Take a look at this excerpt again by Reuters' Jacob Bogage:
"This new system would inject the federal government into the voting process of every city, town, village, and hamlet in the United States.
And there are constitutional protections, frankly, against that. The Constitution vests election procedures, the time, place, and manner of an election with state governments. The federal government really does not have a ton of control over elections. This would basically make the post office a clearinghouse for ballots in a way that it's never been done before.
And the Postal Service, it does a lot of things really well. It's, frankly, not equipped for this task."
Write a one-paragraph critically reflective response to the following question: Based on the excerpt and any additional examples, do you think the federal government under the Trump administration is usurping (taking) power away from state governments?
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