Pity the Postal Service, maybe. Even when it tries to do something right these days, things seem to go awry. Especially when it comes to the election.
The latest case in point: Colorado sued the USPS over the weekend, arguing that postcards being sent to every household in the country — encouraging voters to return their mail-in ballots early so they are sure to arrive in time to be counted — includes incorrect and misleading information about the way elections are held in Colorado.
To make matters worse — as if things could get worse for the financially strapped and politically beleaguered post office these days — several other states are exploring whether to file similar lawsuits.
A federal judge immediately issued a temporary restraining order blocking the distribution of the postcards.
But, adding another dollop of disaster, postal officials say most of the postcards have already been mailed across Colorado. To stop the 200,000 that have been processed but not delivered would require more than 1,000 employees to spend hours manually extracting them from the mail. That process "would be extraordinarily difficult and perhaps impossible," postal officials say in a court filing.
This legal nightmare appears to have started innocently enough when the Postal Service — facing a deluge of mailed-in ballots in November because of the coronavirus pandemic — decided to send 137 million postcards across the country with the headline "If you plan to vote by mail plan ahead." The card suggests people request a ballot at least 15 days before Election Day and mail the ballot back to election offices by Oct. 27, seven days in advance.
The mailing includes a general disclaimer that election rules vary by state — but that was not enough for Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat.
The state is one of five that planned to conduct the election almost entirely through the mail even before the pandemic. (The others are Oregon, Washington, Utah and Hawaii.)
Four others — California, New Jersey, Nevada and Vermont, plus the District of Columbia — have decided on sending a mail-in ballot to every voter for this election only in order to reduce the electorate's exposure to Covid-19. Another nine states plan to send an application for a mail-in ballot to every voter.
During a House Oversight and Reform subcommittee hearing Monday on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's conduct, Democrat Gerald Connolly of Virginia labeled the handling of the postcard a "debacle." He said it could have been avoided had the Postal Service listened to state officials who asked to review postcard before it was mailed out.
Griswold's lawsuit argues that the statement in the postcard about requesting a ballot is false for Colorado voters because everyone receives one without asking for it.
The statement about returning the ballot through the mail is also false, the suit maintains, because Colorado voters can drop their mail-in ballots at polling centers or in drop boxes and can vote in person if they choose.
Judge William Martinez of Denver ruled Saturday night that it was likely the lawsuit would prevail. In his order, he wrote that the mailing could "sow confusion amongst voters" and leave them wondering whether election laws had been changed.
Postal officials on Sunday immediately challenged Martinez' ruling, saying he erred by issuing it without even hearing their arguments.
Postal officials say the postcards were sent out for a "valid public purpose" and that the majority were delivered on Friday in Colorado.
Extracting those still in the process might slow down delivery of other important mail, postal officials argue in a legal filing.
Martinez gave postal officials until Monday afternoon to file a motion supporting their request that he reconsider his decision to issue the restraining order.
Old engraved illustration of Ulysses defying the Cyclops.
Odysseus Reimagined: Nolan’s Epic Explores What Makes a True Hero
Who is a hero? More importantly: what is a hero? What attributes are universally admired, inspiring glorious stories, ballads and songs, memorials and movies, all chronicling the hero’s bold adventures?
The Odyssey, a new release written and directed by Christopher Nolan, attempts to answer that question. Based on the ancient tales The Iliad and The Odyssey, written by Homer around 800 BC, the film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus and Anne Hathaway as Penelope, his loyal wife.
Historians have puzzled over the “Homeric question,” that is, who was Homer? We know very little about him, not even when or where he was born; seven Greek cities lay claim to him as their native son. Yet, he is considered the “godfather” of national Greek culture, and his stories are among the earliest masterpieces of literature.
Homer is sometimes romanticized as a blind poet who wandered from town to town reciting his stories. But he, who could express so poignantly the tribulations of Odysseus, was not blind to human nature. He keenly wrote of the attributes as well as the paltriness in his characters and the flaws of his great hero, Odysseus.
The Iliad is the story of the final years of the Trojan War, sparked when Helen, the beautiful wife of Sparta’s King Menelaus, was kidnapped by Paris of Troy. Because the kings had initiated a pact to defend one another, Odysseus was drawn into the fray.
After spending ten years fighting the Trojan War and finally achieving victory, The Odyssey tells of Odysseus’s struggle to return to his kingdom, Ithaca. On his way home, he encounters many dangers and delays. He is pursued by the sea-god Poseidon, must surmount Circe’s spell, and overcome the seductive charms of the enchantress Calypso, and his journey takes him another ten years.
Odysseus’s desires and struggles are universal: his longing for home, yearning for an end to his troubles, for rest after a long and difficult journey. His difficulties reflect the immemorial questions of what it means to be loyal, to belong, what it means “to be” at all. Despite his hubris, which manifests in his propensity to court catastrophe without regard for consequences, Odysseus is an authentic hero, noble and admirable, brave and dedicated.
According to the Greek ideal, a true hero must possess physical excellence and moral virtue. He must, as well, embrace his civic duty. Achieving such status requires “paideia,” a good education; “sophrosyne,” moderation in maintaining physical and emotional balance; and “arete,” an allegiance to the state.
Fictional or real, heroes’ deeds resonate through the centuries and shine a light on what is best in humanity, what matters, what will live on despite our mortality.
Is our digital age really so different from Homer’s Bronze Age? Physical beauty is still adulated, as it was then with Helen of Troy, “the face that launched a thousand ships.” (Marlowe) Power is still king, and wealth is still power.
The years of the Trojan War were harsh and violent. But were they more brutal than the times we live in? Although millenniums have passed and we now have different battlefields, Palestine, Ukraine, Iran, etc., the ravages and the wages of war remain the same: death and suffering. Humanity’s currency is the same, and so, too, is our quest for heroes.
Social scientists claim that after three generations most people are forgotten by even their direct progeny, and after four, remembered only by historical records. So, what then does last? What makes a difference? What is truly beautiful and worthwhile in life?
The universal themes embodied and emboldened by our heroes throughout the ages, the faithfulness of their hearts and the courage of their deeds, these last.
The essential qualities of a hero are manifested in Homer’s Odysseus. Steadfast integrity: “Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.” His deep compassion: “Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow for others’ good, and to melt at others’ woes.” (Both quotes from The Odyssey.)
Nolan’s movie may have created a more virtuous hero than Homer’s works, but the core of the nearly 3,000-year-old-story is intact and as crucially relevant today as it was then. It is the stuff of life: trauma, survival, relationships with others, finding oneself, deciding what is right, choosing a path forward, sometimes, ultimately leading to the honing of a hero.
Just as Odysseus braved storms, temptations, and trials in search of home, we too face a modern sea of civic turbulence, polarization, mistrust, and the fraying of our shared story.
As we live, we too will write our defining stories. How then might we become modern heroes?
By instigating the third Greek ideal of “arete”; embracing our civic duty. By becoming citizens who are open to reflection and debate, who are willing to act with purpose for the betterment of our nation.
In this journey, the work of renewing our democracy can be its own Odyssey, a voyage calling for integrity, courage, and steadfast commitment. Not to return home as Odysseus so desired, but to preserve our home, for the grand and worthwhile purpose of working toward an ever-better future for our country.
With others, we can shape the next chapter of our nation’s collective story.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."