The U.S. Postal Service, pressed by a group of U.S. senators, this week agreed to a moratorium until spring on deciding the fate of rural post offices across the nation. The delay is good news. It doesn’t end the threat, but it does buy time for Oregonians to press the case for keeping these offices open.

The arguments here are much as they are in rural areas across the nation – with one key addition: post offices here also double as our unofficial polling places. They are our link to the electoral process.

A bipartisan group of 21 state senators, including Pendleton’s David Nelson, stressed that connection in a letter to key U.S. Senate leaders last week. The letter urged them to continue funding for rural post offices in Oregon, where about 41 sites are on the chopping block. The offices targeted for closure include the one Imnaha.

In a news release, Senator Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day) compared shutting remote post offices to “denying access to constitutionally protected voting rights.”

“The loss of a rural post office is about more than a longer, more expensive drive between rural communities to mail Christmas cards,” Ferrioli said. “These closures potentially shut off access to the ballot box in a state pioneering the vote by mail’ experiment.”

The senators ask that federal decision-makers keep that in mind as they make difficult decisions on budget issues.

Voting access is not the only reason to preserve these post offices, of course. Officials and residents already have argued that such offices are essential for people who live in remote areas that have limited cell phone and Internet access as alternatives to snail mail, and particularly for elderly residents who rely on postal access for mail prescriptions, money orders and other services close to home. They’ve also questioned whether the savings really add up enough to outweigh the harm.

Still, raising the flag for the all-American right to vote can’t hurt the local case. The moratorium announced this week will give the agency time to sort through all of these issues, and Congress more time to come up with postal reforms. U.S. Sen Ron Wyden, lauding the decision, noted the importance to Oregon as a vote-by-mail state.

We hope federal authorities will take a careful look at the impact their decisions could have on electoral participation. “One person, one vote” should count even in rural areas, and in Oregon that requires a stamp and a handy mail receptacle.      –SC