Election results may come slowly. Trust the process. (Joyce White Vance/al.com)

[eppur_se_muova]

Joyce White Vance: Do not be alarmed if the election night count is slow
Posted Sep 09, 2020

By Joyce White Vance | former U.S. attorney

Joyce White Vance, a former U.S. attorney in Alabama, is a professor at the University of Alabama School of Law.

This year, unlike any election year in memory, it’s possible that Election Night will end without us having the final results. But while it’s different, it isn’t anything to worry about. This year, voters in Alabama, like in most other states, can vote absentee if they’re concerned about Covid-19. With many more Americans likely using mail-in voting because of the pandemic, the count will be slower. Ballots will have to be opened, verified, sorted and counted, and that process can’t begin, in Alabama, until election day. At the same time, there may be fewer poll workers available, both here in Alabama and across the country, and that could make the count slower as well.

A slower count has nothing to do with accuracy or legitimacy of the process, it simply reflects the unusual moment we are living in. President Trump has claimed that mail-in voting will produce “the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” but there is no evidence this is true. Whether a state calls it mail-in or absentee voting, many people, including Alabama military members and their families stationed overseas and college students attending school away from home, have used it for many years without problems. Voters get to complete their ballot at home and, depending on state rules, return it by mail or in person on or before Election Day.

Voting by mail is common. In 2016, roughly one out of every four votes was mailed. President Trump has often voted by mail, as have members of his family, Vice President Pence, and other Cabinet members. Every member of the U.S. military stationed overseas votes by mail. Some states, such as California, send a mail-in ballot to every registered voter. Five states — including Utah, hardly a progressive stronghold —conduct their elections entirely by mail without the type of fraud the president claims will occur.

Those states do so because voting by mail is proven safe. States have extra security protocols for mail-in ballots — such as bar codes, signature verification, and statistical audits — making them as secure as in-person ballots if not more so, because they are paper ballots, not electronic ones. Ballots are delivered through the U.S. Postal Service, which we trust to deliver Social Security checks, tax refunds, credit cards, passports, and life-saving prescription medications.

Ignoring all of those facts, and the widespread national support for mail-in voting, the president has declared that he is opposed to fully funding the Postal Service in order to make it harder for Americans to safely and effectively vote by mail in the midst of the pandemic crisis. That admission shines a light on the recent attempts by the new Postmaster General DeJoy, a major Trump donor who has invested millions in USPS competitors and contractors, to slow mail delivery. These include a proposal to nearly triple the postage rate for mail-in ballots, the abrupt removal of important mail sorting machines, and the purge of seasoned postal executives. Fortunately, the intense public and congressional backlash has forced him to abandon some of his plans and DeJoy has committed to prioritizing delivery of ballots. But we must be alert to the possibility that the mail will continue to be slower than usual as we approach Election Day.

So, what can we do?
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more: https://www.al.com/opinion/2020/09/joyce-white-vance-do-not-be-alarmed-if-the-election-night-count-is-slow.html


This was just printed in the Huntsville Times today (9/27) but apparently posted online nearly two weeks earlier.

Out of morbid curiosity, I scrolled down to see how awful the comments were. There were none. I assume al.com locked this post to comments. Now I can't read about how all the Uglicans are threatening to cancel their subscriptions because of this seditious Commie crap.

[Olafjoy]

1. 2018 Arizona

McSally ahead on election night. Votes from small town, conservative and rural Arizona made up the majority of the votes. Massive numbers of Maricopa county (Phoenix metro area) still left to count. Every day McSally’s lead shrank until Sinema overtook her and won. Just like everyone knew it would when they saw where the ballots were coming from. No screaming, no rioting in the streets, no Brooks Brother’s riot.