To the Journal editor:

The nightmare that will be the 2020 election is already coming into view. The Republican Party, President Donald Trump, and the billionaire class they represent, will stop at nothing to retain their hold on power. This includes disabling the machinery for fair elections.

Some of this has been going on for a while. Politically driven challenges via state legislatures and courts have sought, with some success, to block participation and turnout of voters that Republicans see as unfriendly.

But now the strategy has escalated. Undermining the U.S. Postal Service’s delivery system, by starving it of funding and installing crony management, seriously risks the nation’s ability, at this most critical moment, to hold a fair election. It’s like stuffing the ballot box in reverse. Expect endless disputes about the receipt and processing of ballots.

Undermine the election’s legitimacy then blame the process as illegitimate. The upheaval will be frightening, the noise deafening, the outcome undecided, the tension unbearable, and it will last for weeks.

This is perhaps the most dangerous example yet of the Trump GOP working every angle to turn the pandemic to its political advantage. So, what do we do? While it’s unlikely that our U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, will support emergency funding for the USPS, demand it anyway.

But here’s a more effective approach. Be registered. Request an absentee ballot. When you get the ballot, fill it in and send it back. Attach two first class stamps. Or drop it off in person.

Don’t delay. It’s nothing less than a defense of American democracy.