Week of Aug. 29, 2024

From the publisher’s desk

The ill-advised plan to move all Reno-area mail processing to Sacramento has been shelved.

As reported by The Associated Press’ Scott Sonner (one of the great veterans of Nevada journalism):

The U.S. Postal Service said Tuesday it is abandoning a plan to reroute Reno-area mail processing to Sacramento that had created an uproar among northern Nevadans concerned it could delay local deliveries and jeopardize on-time arrival of mail-in election ballots.

USPS said in a statement it has identified “enhanced efficiencies” that will allow processing of single-piece mail to continue at the existing Reno postal facility. It said it does not anticipate the revised strategy will have any impacts on postal workers in Reno.

This reversal by the USPS—after a rare bipartisan outcry from Nevada elected officials—is one of the few recent victories for voting access and integrity in the United States.

Make no mistake: Voting rights are under flat-out attack in some parts of the United States. Take the state of Texas as an example. The attorney general just raided the homes and offices of Latino voting-rights advocates, supposedly as part of an “ongoing election integrity investigation.” As reported by the Texas Tribune: “Agents raided the home of Cecilia Castellano—the Democrat running to succeed state Rep. Tracy King, D-Uvalde—and confiscated her phone as part of the search, according to Rosales. Republicans see that seat, which Gov. Greg Abbott carried by nearly 6 percentage points, as their best potential state House flip in November. Law enforcement also searched the homes of at least five other Latino individuals, all of whom were working on Castellano’s campaign and three of whom are members of Texas LULAC, Rosales added.”

Also in Texas, more than 1 million people were just purged from the rolls. While most of the removals were legit, 65,000 of them were done simply because the voters didn’t respond to mail—something that has both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Legislative Black Caucus speaking out against the purge.

It’s become common for GOP politicians to make claims about voter fraud and stolen elections. However, these claims are almost always based in fantasy, not facts. (Remember the Robert Beadles-funded Joey Gilbert kerfuffle two years ago?)

The Brennan Center for Justice reports: “Politicians at all levels of government have repeatedly, and falsely, claimed the 2016, 2018, and 2020 elections were marred by large numbers of people voting illegally. However, extensive research reveals that fraud is very rare, voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent, and many instances of alleged fraud are, in fact, mistakes by voters or administrators. The same is true for mail ballots, which are secure and essential to holding a safe election amid the coronavirus pandemic.”

The Brennan Center concludes: “Voter fraud is unacceptable, but we must find solutions that address actual problems instead of imposing policies that make it harder for millions of eligible Americans to participate in our democracy.”

Hear, hear!

What’s happening in Texas isn’t solving problems; it’s putting obstacles in the way of legitimate, eligible voters—because the officials pushing these policies are worried about protecting their power, not protecting democracy.

—Jimmy Boegle, publisher/executive editor

Happy Best of Northern Nevada eve!

Just a reminder that at 8 a.m. tomorrow, the results of our Best of Northern Nevada readers’ poll will go live at RenoNR.com. Our 60-page Best of Northern Nevada print edition will begin hitting the streets tomorrow, with distribution continuing over the weekend and into next week.

Thanks to all of you who voted—and congratulations to the winners and finalists!