I agree with the sentiment that there is not much point in delivering any sort of documents by postal mail. However, we don't have any large scale way of providing email to the masses with the same (or better) practical and legal guarantees. Practical: Not tied to a company, accessible, etc. Legal: Preferably end to end encrypted, read receipts and how to handle them, nominees and death of the mailbox owner etc. In general, I feel that it's hard and probably for the best that email doesn't become "official".
For a middle ground, I would like USPS to offer a service where they scan and send you the docs and you agree to some terms. They already scan the addresses and show you the informed mail digest. I don't care if they open it and scan it. It's all junk anyway.
Sure but here is what everyone in this thread is missing: there is nothing (and I mean nothing) inherently official or legal about mail except that the government designated it as official 100+ years ago.
If the official channel was email and I said "let's switch to snail mail" you would all rightfully call me an idiot. You/we are all wedded to a really bad paradigm.
There's nothing stopping the government from letting you opt into an official email box.
You are discounting the very thing that makes it important: the fact that it is directly beholden to the law.
If the government controlled the entire email system, like they do the USPS, it wouldn’t be email as you know it today.
But as email stands today, it relies on the voluntary cooperation of third-parties who operate on a best-effort basis. It has no governance.
That’s a show stopper, not only for the US government, but for most governments around the world. I’m not aware of any country that has found it reasonable to do as you’re suggesting. Even Estonia, which has online elections, still finds it prudent to have a national mail service.
For a middle ground, I would like USPS to offer a service where they scan and send you the docs and you agree to some terms. They already scan the addresses and show you the informed mail digest. I don't care if they open it and scan it. It's all junk anyway.