Office Department, which was a part of the cabinet, and created the United States Postal Service, a corporation-like independent agency with an official monopoly on the delivery of mail in the United States. Voter registration by mail In 1972, McGee introduced S. 352, which would allow eligible voters to register by mail in federal elections. The bill would establish a new Voter Registration Administration as part of the U.S. Census Bureau to administer the registration program. Under the procedure, postcard forms would be mailed to all postal addresses and residences, and the cards would have to be returned to local registration agents no later than 30 days before a federal election. Processing of the forms would be paid for by the Voter Registration Administration. McGee believed and argued that existing methods discouraged registration citing the fact that 62 million people did not vote in 1972 election, nearly half of all Americans eligible to vote. Opponents believed that the proposal would destroy the two-party system, lead to increased fraud, and cost too much to implement. The Nixon Administration formally opposed the bill citing the potential for fraud and cost but McGee's committee reported the bill with only Hiram Fong, the Committee's ranking Republican member, opposing. During floor debate In spring 1973, the bill was filibustered for almost a month. The 13th successful cloture vote since in the Senate came after two earlier attempts to terminate a four-week filibuster on the voter registration bill (S 352) failed. Had the May 9 vote also fallen short, McGee had warned opponents of S 352 during floor debate that not only would there have been another cloture vote, but "if necessary there'll be another and another and another." The nearly 100 per cent attendance for the May 9 vote, plus three switches in favor of cloture on the third try, gave the cloture motion the necessary two-thirds vote. John C. Stennis (D Miss.) was the only senator to miss the vote. Earlier efforts to shut off the talkathon on the bill failed by two and three votes, respectively. The April 30 vote was 56-31; the May 3 vote was 60-34. On May 9, cloture succeeded by a one-vote margin, 67-32. Two Republicans and one Democrat switched from opposition to support for cloture on the May 9 67-32 vote. The Republicans were Robert T. Stafford (Vt.) and Milton R. Young (N.D.); both had voted against cloture