In another attempt to destroy a long-standing international agreement, Donald Trump threatened to create chaos for overseas voters by withdrawing from the Universal Postal Union (UPU), a United Nations body that has regulated mail services for 145 years. But disaster was averted today, when UPU, in tense last-minute negotiations, agreed to changes in its rate structure that satisfied U.S. concerns.<\/p>\n
If Trump had gotten his way, overseas voters could have found themselves on the outs on Election Day, because they would have had no way to mail in their ballots and could have been left with the necessity of sending them via air-express services at a very prohibitive cost.<\/p>\n
U.S. trade negotiators had contended that postal rates set by UPU gave unfair advantages to America\u2019s economic rivals, especially China\u2014and they may have had a valid point. But in focusing solely on that imbalance, and by making international postal rates part of Trump\u2019s ongoing trade war with China, they ignored the impact that a withdrawal (which had been dubbed \u201cPexit\u201d) would have had on U.S. elections.<\/p>\n
The National Association of Counties (NACO)\u2014whose members include the election officials who administer voting across the U.S\u2014had been strongly opposed to “Pexit.” Here\u2019s how NACO explained its potential impact:<\/a><\/p>\n