The article argues that recent executive overreach and politicization have severely undermined established norms of U.S. civil-military relations. To restore professional standards, the incoming Congress must actively exercise its oversight powers, moving beyond mere criticism to demanding transparency in defense policy and personnel decisions. Key reforms include enforcing meritocratic promotion processes, requiring documented justification for senior officer removals, and preventing the partisan use of the military. These actions are crucial for bolstering public trust and ensuring the military remains a nonpartisan instrument of civilian control.
New post office policy could lead to the rejection of tens of thousands of mail-in ballots in November
English Summary
A Brookings analysis warns that the USPS's new Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) policy—which reduces rural post office pickups from two to one per day—could cause tens of thousands of mail-in ballots to be rejected in the upcoming election. The report finds that this logistical change, affecting nearly half of all voting-age adults, has already been shown to double the rejection rate for mail-in ballots in test states. To mitigate this electoral risk, the analysis recommends that states widely publicize the change to affected voters, that voters send ballots much earlier to avoid late-arrival rejections, and that the USPS clearly delineate which post offices are under the new one-pickup rules.
中文摘要
布魯金斯智庫的一項分析警告稱，美國郵政服務局（USPS）的新《區域運輸優化》（RTO）政策——該政策將偏遠地區郵局的郵件收集次數從每日兩次減少至一次——可能會導致即將到來的選舉中數萬張郵寄選票被拒收。該報告指出，這項影響了近半數投票年齡成年人的後勤變動，在測試州份已顯示出使郵寄選票的拒收率翻倍的潛力。為減輕此選舉風險，該分析建議各州應廣泛向受影響的選民公佈此變動；選民應提早寄出選票以避免因送達時間過晚而被拒收；同時，郵政服務局應清楚劃分哪些郵局適用新的單次收集規定。
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