What is prepaid mail and what impact could it have on an election?

SALT LAKE CITY – Prepaid mail, also known as congressional mail, is official mail that is sent without advance payment and is funded by taxpayer dollars.

KSL at Night hosts Greg Skordas and Adam Gardiner talk about what prepaid mail looks like for federal, state and local politicians.

Gardiner breaks down what could be considered a prepaid mailing, saying it could be a post announcing a town hall meeting or even a congressman instructing how to access resources.

He says something like this could be a very good way to spread information through the mail.

Some rules

To prevent misuse of taxpayer money, there are numerous federal regulations governing these mailers. In fact, an entire franking committee has to agree.

First of all, a representative cannot advocate for himself too much.

There are also very strict deadlines for sending mailings, especially in an election year. Nothing will be sent until September because there is a rule that prepaid mail cannot be sent 60 days before a general election.

At the local level it is different

State representatives must purchase their own stationery and cover shipping costs themselves. Although the cost is higher, it means there are fewer rules to follow.

There is no law that prohibits mailing whatever you want to whomever you want, including on voting materials or at election time.

Current events

Recently, a taxpayer-funded mailer containing a picture and the elected official’s name was mailed large format and in advance to Salt Lake County residents. The problem, according to Skordas and Gardiner, is that the official who sent the mailer is also currently a candidate. Plus, these were sent just a few weeks before the election.

Although this is not illegal, Skordas and Gardiner discuss how unethical this could be.

“I think it’s inappropriate and unethical, but it’s okay because we haven’t defined that it’s not like that. As you can say, the speed limit is 50 and you exceed the speed limit at 55, but if you say we don’t have rules for county officials sending documents and they do it and it stinks terribly, then we have to do something about it said Skordas.