December 27, 2020 - Joe Rodgers
Good things happen in Philadelphia! Yes, Philadelphia is a special cradle of liberty. Our founder, William Penn, put forth the vision of "putting the power in the people." Nearly a century after his arrival, Philadelphia was the place where those stirring words reverberated around the world---"inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and "we the people" were written and enshrined. For generations to come, a storm of strangers would cherish Philadelphia as the place where these founding documents were written and ratified.
Being the cradle of democracy, it was only fitting that Philadelphia and its surrounding counties put the Biden/Harris ticket over the top to 270 electoral votes. Many organizations, including the AFL-CIO District Labor Councils, the building trades, civic groups, and the ever-important letter carrier worked incredibly hard to make sure citizens registered to vote and that those votes counted.
Letter carriers across the city and beyond moved heaven and earth to ensure every mail-in-ballot arrived at the Board of Elections on time. Each morning at 9:15 AM, members of the joint NALC/USPS election taskforce dialed into a conference call reporting the status of ballots at their facility. With few exceptions, the "all clear" signal was given, meaning no ballots were in their station for more than 24 hours.
On November 7, 2020, Pennsylvania bestowed their 20 electoral votes to Biden/Harris. Letter carriers across the "City of Brotherly Love" and suburbs described the admiration and appreciation they received from the public. They were hailed as heroes of democracy and rightfully so. I am so proud of you. You deserve it. You did a great job.
In transitioning, I would like to remind everyone to stay safe. We are still working while a highly contagious health care crisis is trending upwards. Please do all you can to stay out of harms way. Remind your coworkers to wear their protective masks when social distancing is not possible. We are all in this together.
Happy Holidays and God bless!