Starting off…
This week I have a more educational op-ed I wrote on vote-by-mail! I hope everyone had a lovely week of finals — if it is your finals week — and a relaxing week regardless!
Also, a logo, theme, and color change — let me know what you think!
Why vote by mail is the next step in improving American democracy — the technical and the political.
I remember opening my laptop and typing “New Jersey Absentee Ballots” into my search bar for last year’s General Assembly election in November. Today I search for that same information but in a completely different tone. Last year, I was a freshman at University of Rhode Island juiced up on the premise of making my voice heard. This year, I am a sophomore at The New School taking shelter in the isolation of the Adirodacks due to an apocalyptic pandemic. The whole country, looking for the same answer: how to make their vote still count in what will be an election that, more or less, decides the fate of our country. All of America is searching the same thing as we approach the 2020 presidential election. “(Insert your state) absentee ballot.”
Amid the news of Republican’s forcing in-person voting in Wisconsin and the cries of protests demanding that Trump reopens the economy, registered voters are wondering how they will vote when going to polls is not an option. Breathing the same air as the polling officials, sharing the same pen with the voter in front of you, picking up a ballot from the same stack hundreds of strangers have — actions that were once considered more than normal are now equivalent to a death wish. COVID-19 has changed the face of America into a doctor wearing a mask, a child staying home from school, and a grandparent celebrating their birthday alone.
Starting with the technical
Answering the question of whether or not vote by mail is the right choice is easy. The risks posed by COVID-19 make it clear that gathering at polling stations is not an option. As primary elections in remaining states approach and with the presidential election coming in November, the real question is: is it possible to make all elections 100% vote by mail. I was surprised to find that voting by mail is not at all a new concept. Five states — Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington — already conduct elections completely by mail. In the 2016 presidential election, 23.7% of votes casted were by mail. While the policies and procedures of these five states differ, they all send ballots to every registered voter, giving them a period of time (usually 2-3 weeks) to return their ballots before the date of the in person election. A voter can then return their ballot via mail or deliver it to a polling station/drop box.
Those who oppose voting by mail do so for irrational reasons. Yes, voting by mail is a difficult tedious procedure that has taken states that are solely vote by mail time to perfect. Like any method of voting, there are specific procedures that need to be followed in order to ensure mail-in votes are properly cast. When a ballot is sent to one's house, the voter completes the ballot, inserts it into a security envelope and then places it in the ballot envelope, signs and returns it. With this process, many things can go wrong. Below is a figure of the top reasons why absentee ballots can not be counted.
Via the Election Administration and Voting Survey, 2016 Comprehensive Report from the US Election Assistance Committee
What is clear is that the majority of reasons for absentee votes not being counted has to do with the voter incorrectly filling out the ballot or submitting it wrong. This problem could be easily solved with the mass distribution of vote by mail information, making the procedures clear and concise. In an article by Edward B. Foley in Politico, he warns about the danger of lawsuits regarding disputes over what errors in the voting process constitute a vote not being counted. To solve these issues that are bound to arise in battle-ground states where every vote matters, strict rules will have to be put in place that account for every possible error in casting ballots. Overall, while some absentee ballots were rejected in the 2016 general election, 80.1% of absentee ballots sent out voters were returned and processed. Of that 80.1% of returned ballots, 99% of the absentee votes were counted.
Other opposition to voting by mail: there are — according to Trump — high percentages of voter fraud in voting by mail procedures. In a press briefing on April 7th, Trump said, “Now, mail ballots — they cheat. Okay? People cheat. Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country, because they’re cheaters. They go and collect them. They’re fraudulent in many cases. You got to vote. And they should have voter ID, by the way. If you want to really do it right, you have voter ID … These mailed ballots come in. The mailed ballots are corrupt, in my opinion. And they collect them, and they get people to go in and sign them. And then they — they’re forgeries in many cases. It’s a horrible thing.”
Is voting by mail “fraudulent in many cases”?
No. In an announcement made in 2017 by Oregon’s Secretary of state, Dennis Richardson, a study conducted to analyze the results of the 2016 election in Oregon found that there were 54 cases of suspected voter fraud. So 54 votes out of the 2,036,372 ballots cast in Oregon for the November 8, 2016 election means that 0.002% of votes were fraudulent. 0.002%. Wow, what a crazy amount of fraudulent votes. You are right Mr. Trump. Voting by mail is the most corrupt —my own sarcasm to acknowledge the absurdity of Trump’s accusations.
So the political
If it is not already clear, voting by mail from a technical, unbiased standpoint is the next step to fixing democracy in America. More states have not adopted the voting by mail system in its entirety due to the deep political divide in the US and the never-ending saga of Republican-driven voter suppression.
While vote by mail is just a process and different method of voting, it is quite politicized. The five states that are completely vote by mail — Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington — are majority democratic and adopted vote by mail to improve voter turnout. Even at a normal time, when rules of social distancing and the pandemic do not apply, voting from the comfort of your own home on relatively your own schedule would make voting infinitely easier. One of the main reasons people don’t vote is because of how difficult it is and why is voting so difficult … because Republicans want it to be.
While many blatant forms of voter suppression have been eliminated — literacy tests and the grandfather clause for instance — voter suppression still exists in the US and in many different forms. Examples of voter suppression include but are not limited to: restricting the amount of polling stations and the number of hours a station is open, only conducting elections on one day, distributing materials in only English to disenfranchise voters who speak another language, changing voter ID laws and instituting an indirect poll tax. All of these tactics and more limit the amount of people being able to vote, many of these tactics being aimed at minorities and the working class.
Voting by mail completely eliminates voter suppression that has to do with traveling to poll stations, the amount of poll stations in a given area, and issues with the date of the election. Vote by mail ultimately means more people voting and more time to learn about the candidates, which for Republicans is possibly more frightening than the pandemic. There is nothing more powerful than a population of informed voters.
What happened in Wisconsin was a clear and blatant manipulation of government by Republicans, completely backed by Trump. Nearly 72 hours before the in-person primary election was supposed to be held in Wisconsin, Democratic Governor Tony Evers bid to suspend in-person voting until June of 2020, due to the danger of COVID-19. Despite the seriousness of the pandemic, Republican legislators in Wisconsin backed the Republican majority on the Supreme court in insisting on holding in-person voting, not even extending the date for absentee ballots to come in.
In a press conference on April 7th, the day of the election in Wisconsin, Trump was asked, “There were reports of thousands of people waiting in hours-long lines as they’ve had to weigh their own personal health and their civic responsibility. What — do think that the Supreme Court was right in its decision, sir, that voting should go forward and that the absentee extension should not take place?” and he responded with complete gibberish. Trump, completely evading the bulk of the question which was the health concerns of in-person voting, said:
“Look, the Supreme Court — well, of course they were right, because what the Democrats wanted — and you know why this happened. I supported a man named Justice Kelly, who’s — Daniel Kelly, highly respected justice … And as soon as I endorsed him, they wanted to move the election. They didn’t want to move the election. As soon as I endorsed him, the Wisconsin Democrats say, “Oh, let’s move the election to two months later.” … Now they talk about, “Oh, safety, safety.” Well, it was 15 minutes after I put out an endorsement that they said, “We have to move the election.” They didn’t want to move the election before that. The other thing they wanted to do — which is crazy — at the end of the election, they wanted to have one week for proxies to come in or mailed ballots.”
Demonstrating both Trump’s stupidity and his support of Wisconsin’s blatant voter suppression, Trump uses repetitive language to fill time and run circles around the true nature of why Republican’s did not move the election date. Forcing Wisconsin citizens to risk their personal health and safety in order to cast their ballots is an infringement on the right to vote.
The fear Republicans have is that with vote by mail more Democrats would vote, therefore more Democrats would be elected. Republican’s keep getting elected only because of their methods of voter suppression and partisan gerrymandering. More votes equals more people having a voice and less government control. Vote by mail means more informed voters and less political manipulation. It means less tax dollars spent on polling stations and more money spent on giving back to the community. Vote by mail isn’t a one-step-fix-all kind of reform, but it would certainly improve voting rights and lead to actual structural change in the American government. The bottom line — vote by mail means democracy.
As always thank you for reading, participating, and overall being.
Much love,
isabelle