Canadian post office: "We've never seen so many mail-in ballots!"

Get a load of this, everyone!

I was at the post office in my BC city today, mailing a news video to another DUer, and when I mentioned that I was hoping it would get there in time for election day, the clerk told me that people at Canada Post are AMAZED by how many US expatriates have been showing up to mail their absentee ballots. The guy was even able to recite a list of "swing states", because so many customers have been talking about it. He reported that the non-swing state people are bummed about not being in on the action, but they're voting anyway, just to push up the popular count!

He said that he suspects the vast majority of those ballots are for Kerry.

He and some of his colleagues started asking the senior staff if there's any precedent for this kind of groundswell. They have people working there who remember back nearly 3 decades, and they can't recall seeing this many US ballots -- not for Reagan, or even Clinton!

And the clerk, who isn't very political (he didn't even recognize Al Gore's name when I mentioned it back in 2000) -- he leaned forward and said, "I really hope that Bush doesn't get back in."

So -- way to go, Democrats Abroad! And kudos to John Kerry's sister, and Howard Dean, and everybody else who came up to campaign for those 600,000 US expatriate votes in Canada.


p.s. the Postie grapevine says that it's not just BC. The same thing seems to be happening cross-country! If you factor in dozens of ballots for each post office location, it really starts to add up!

afterall, they have to much at stake to have Bush win!

:dem:

How is the backlog at Canada Post for international mail? I had read that they have a backlog to the US because of US Customs searching mail before it can enter the US.

Part of our federal workforce is out on strike now, and it's certainly causing delays for stuff coming into Canada. (Not so much "flat mail" but the bulkier packages.) I don't know if this would influence stuff going the other way, but if there's some kind of screening process before it leaves our country, that might be a factor. The early Christmas mail season is starting, and I don't think they have the extra workers on yet, which would also make for backlogs.

More here: http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/10/19/canada/canadapost_delay041019

Silly me I assumed it was for things going out also.

I love these personal stories -

I think there is a DU thread about the same thing happening in Germany.