Voting by Mail Could Be What States Need. But Can They Pull It Off?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

WASHINGTON — When Colorado’s 3.5 million voters help select a president this fall, their choice will be made almost entirely by mail, via ballots in postage-paid envelopes dropped off in mailboxes or, more commonly, in bins scattered statewide.

Not so in Alabama. As the law now stands, all voters must cast their ballots on Election Day, at their designated polling places, unless they vote absentee. And getting an absentee ballot is so hard that fewer than 55,000 of 1.7 million voters cast one in the last election.

Election experts, voting rights advocates and a chorus of Democrats are urging states to switch as much as is possible to voting by mail for the November election. Their aim is to ensure that the vote is not plagued by the same nightmare scenario that occurred this week in Wisconsin of voters in masks and gloves going to polls — or staying home — amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Republican governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu, endorsed the idea on Thursday, saying the state would hold its election by mail in November if health risks were still an issue. The Republican secretary of state in Iowa, Paul Pate, raised the same prospect this week. Elsewhere, Republican opposition, like court filings and President Trump’s baseless charge that voting by mail is riddled with fraud, leaves the future of that effort in doubt.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1002

[Wounded Bear]

1. Assuming we can keep USPS afloat 'til then, it's the way to go...nt

[jimfields33]

2. We need a better way of ensuring they get to where they need to be

I don’t trust it right now. Florida finding bins of absentee ballots in southern Florida in 2018. In 2020, Michigan finding hundreds without post marks and binds not delivered. How can we just so easily think this is awesome? I find it troubling.

[ornotna]

11. How did you manage to

get to almost 2000 posts?

[jimfields33]

12. By pointing out facts?

Do you not care that thousands did not vote? In Florida of all places? How did you get to one post?

[ornotna]

15. By not parroting right wing talking points for one.

Bet you wish you could say that, amirite.

[jimfields33]

17. You clearly were thrilled for Florida

No other explanation for you stance on missed votes. I wonder if you really are that unaware of news. Maybe you don’t know these cases or don’t care.

[ornotna]

18. You have a vivid imagination

If that's your take away.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. In Washington State we have ballot drop boxes in the denser neighborhoods

Doesn't require a postage stamp.

[Wounded Bear]

6. I know. Mine is almost walking distance...nt

[Celerity]

14. MAGATs would blow them up in dense Blue areas

[Flaleftist]

21. I wouldn't put it past them.

Perhaps, security to guard the boxes during the drop off period would be prudent.

[Blue_true]

22. I agree, some people will find a way to destroy votes that go against their views.

I think that putting dropoff boxes at Post Offices, community gathering locations like libraries and vehicle registration offices, and making it a federal felony to tamper with them, would work. A person who damages ballots should be pursued relentlessly and when found, tried and imprisoned for at least two decades without parole or pardon.

If the things above are done then the nation could have a safe, effective vote by mail system where everyone that is eligible can easily vote.

[napi21]

3. FWIW the Governor of Georgia made this Primary all vote by mail, and has said if the situation with

this virus still exists t the end of Summer we will vote by mail in November too. He's a Repub. Governor so maybe theres some hope of getting the rest of the States to do it as well.

[Blue_true]

24. Florida gives voters a vote by mail option.

I don't know what the constraints are though, because I do in person early voting normally. I believe what should happen is every registered voter should be sent a vote by mail ballot, the simple fact that those people are registered means that they have passed the screens that states like Florida and Georgia throw up to keep some people from voting, so there is no rational reason why people on the registration roles should not automatically get a mail-in ballot.

[napi21]

29. I agree with you. I wonder if the option you presented of mailing a ballot to all regustered voters

& llet the voter decide if they wat to still vote in person, they just don't mail in their ballot would fly with the Pubs? Of course, any in person votes require poll workers and we all saw what happened I Wisconsin.

[madville]

30. I usually vote by mail in Florida

In election years I just call or stop by the county supervisor of elections office and request to have a ballot mailed that year for all elections.

You do have to make the effort to do that though and you have to affix your own postage on the return envelope. I personally think Florida’s setup will suppress the younger vote if in-person voting is still affected by all this come November.

[VarryOn]

4. Colorado will be key in November...

I just hope we don't have to wait two weeks for their results.

I'm all for mail-in voting. I just dont like the requirement of a postmark no later than Election Day. I'd prefer a rule where the ballot must be received by election officials by close of polls on Election Day.

[Blue_true]

25. I agree on reception of ballots.

All that will be counted should be in the hands of Registrars no later than the end of the day before Election Day, hell, I am even willing to have the end day be the end of the Friday before Election Day. The ballots must be sent out to voters no later than a month after the General Election races are all set.

There should be convenient ballot drop off boxes that have working cameras on them that are sending images to storage every hour. Tampering with votes in the boxes should be a federal felony punishable by no less that 20 years in prison. A mail-in ballot should automatically be sent to every registered voter.

[Locutusofborg]

7. Alaska just reported double voter participation

from what it was in 2016 because of vote by mail. 19,813 ballots were cast by today in the mail-in primary. In the 2016 caucuses, 10,610 Alaskan Democrats voted.

[Skittles]

8. yes they CAN

but WILL they

[Hoyt]

9. All states have absentee voting. Most do not require an excuse. Some do.

Alabama’s is a little tougher, but a new excuse could be added, or a relaxed interpretation of this valid excuse should work:

IS ILL OR HAS A PHYSICAL DISABILITY that prevents a trip to the polling place.

[Roland99]

10. Not if the USPS collapses

[Retrograde]

13. California's already got this covered

Here, our ballots can be mailed in (and more counties are going to postage paid envelopes), dropped off at the county registrar, dropped off at most city halls, or dropped off at a number of voting centers in each county prior to election day.

It's a solvable problem - if states want to solve it.

[SouthernCal_Dem]

23. Yep

That's what I do every time I vote.

Fill out the ballot I get in the mail and drop it off at a polling place.

Easy peasy.

Voting should be easy. California makes it easy.

I feel bad for citizens in states like Wisconsin who are forced to jump through hoops just to exercise their right to vote.

It's insane.

[Blue_true]

26. Voters in Wisconsin should take control like voters in Michigan did.

Get a system for fair redistricting on the ballot for everyone to vote on. Republican in Michigan know that they are in trouble, they can either change to represent EVERY citizen of Michigan or vanish - that is the way it should be.

[sarcasmo]

16. The GOP shot down emergency aid for the post office. No post office, No absentee ballots.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/11/post-office-bailout-trump/

[Blue_true]

27. Democrats must refuse to approve any bill that doesn't have aid for the USPS.

The USPS is a business that like all other big businesses, has been seriously harmed by the corona virus, the difference is that the Post Office is a vital business that touches the lives of every American.

Democrats must stop any bill that doesn't have USPS funding from passing.

[Nululu]

19. Oregon's done it for almost 30 years nt

[Blue_true]

28. What republicans states are afraid of.

When states like Oregon, Washington State, California, Colorado went to vote by mail, the prospects for republicans got worse. Republicans count on a small number of people voting to hold office, it is a very much anti-democracy mindset that they have horned to their advantage. They will go down kicking and screaming to prevent vote by mail from becoming widely used.

[Blue_true]

20. We have vote by mail models.

I prefer in person early voting, but in these times, that is unwise. If states that don't have vote by mail wanted to, they have model states that they can talk to, California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington State.

Republican led states don't want all vote by mail because republicans know that would end their reign. But true patriots want people to vote and they tailor their message and if they win, their governance toward getting more people involved.