Letter to the Editor

Postal service important to residents

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Dear Editor,

Recently many of us experienced a disruption in our mail service, a service we need more than ever during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our mail is normally delivered around noon but for a week we did not get our mail until 7 p.m. Bills and medications were received late and two shipments of needed items were lost. We vote absentee by mail and we became concerned about whether or not our ballot would get to the county clerk in time to be counted. We contacted our Congressman Jason Smith and asked him to vote for the Delivery for America Act. This bill prohibits the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from making changes to operations or levels of service from those that were in effect on Jan. 1, 2020, establishes requirements for the processing of election mail, and provides additional funding for the Postal Service Fund. Smith did not listen to his constituents and voted against support for the U.S. Postal Service and declared that the USPS and the fight to keep it operational is “nonsense.”

His vote is one more example of how Smith cares more about his big money donors and corporations than he does about the needs and struggles of his constituents. While Smith has been avoiding his constituents, his opponent Kathy Ellis has been talking with people in the district about their concerns and developing plans for how to get results that will benefit the families in the Missouri 8th Congressional District. We deserve a Representative who cares about us and will work to make our lives better. Kathy Ellis is that person. Vote for Kathy November 3rd and she will get to work for us.

Janet Fossey

Salem, Mo.