There is a simple solution for the potential delay of mail-in ballots for this year’s election. I worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 24 years and, when I started there was, in every office, a mail drop that read “LOCAL MAIL ONLY.” That mail stayed in the local office and was hand cancelled and sorted to the local carrier for next day delivery.

That service was discontinued with the advent of mail sorting machines that needed high volumes of mail to be efficient.

If post offices nationwide resurrected that service, if only for the six weeks prior to Nov. 3, millions of ballots would be delivered to the town or city election officials the very next day, because they stayed in the town where people posted them.

It seems like a simple solution, easily implemented and doable.

Joe Whelan, Lewiston