With the Coronavirus Pandemic threatening to Disrupt In-Person Voting, Election Experts have urged Congress to Mandate that Every State make it Easier to Vote-by-Mail and provide Funding for it, and have asked State Governments to take Immediate Action to Expand Access to Mail Voting in Case Congress Won’t.
While most States Allow Voters to Request an Absentee Ballot for Any Reason, 17 States still Require an Excuse to Cast an Absentee Mail Ballot.
One of those States, Alabama, recently took Steps to Allow concern over Coronavirus to Count as a Valid Excuse to Request an Absentee Ballot. It’s a step Other States should follow, though it would be even Better to Permanently Eliminate the Excuse Requirement.
The ideal approach, however, would be for Every State to enact Universal Voting by Mail, meaning that Every Voter would Automatically be Sent a Ballot that they can then Return by Mail.
Five States: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and Utah, have already Adopted All-Mail Voting, while a Sixth, California, is Transitioning to such a System.
Voters can still Cast Ballots In-Person if they prefer, but the Results in All of the States that have already gone in this direction show that nearly Everyone ends up Voting by Mail.
Other Measures such as Prepaid Postage on Mail Ballots, an Ample Number of Drop-Boxes to Return them in Person, and Counting Ballots as long as they're Postmarked by Election Day would help make it even Easier to Vote and Ensure that All Votes Count.
I would add Self-Closing Envelopes, Tracking Systems so the Voter knows their Ballot Arrived and was Counted, and for Security a Generates Security Code that must be entered on the Envelope to Verify the Voter.
West Virginia's Secretary of State announced on March 18th that citing the Centers for Disease Control's Guidance about Self-Quarantine would Qualify as a Valid Excuse.
The following States are Mail-Only: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and Utah.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
No comments:
Post a Comment