Many states are choosing to vote by mail in this edition of the election due to the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan. The goal is to allow voters to express their voices while protecting them from potential infection with the virus. However, one of the problems with switching to such a system is the potential for fraud. As RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel previously explained, states that have long voted by mail have “tried and true” voting by mail. This means that their systems have been tested for abuse and fraud. States that take this step have suddenly failed to do things like ensure that a voter receives only one ballot or confirm that the voter still lives at the same address.
The Related pressHowever, it does warn Americans about another problem that most people don’t talk about: the number of ballots that could potentially be rejected.
“If ballots are rejected at the same rate as in this year’s primary, as many as three times as many voters could be disenfranchised compared to the last presidential election, according to an Associated Press analysis of rejected ballots in November in key battleground states. “may be even more pronounced in some urban areas where the Democratic vote is concentrated and ballot rejection rates trended higher during this year’s primaries.”
The most common reasons for ballot rejections are: voters did not sign the envelope, the signature on the envelope does not match the signature on file at election offices, or ballots arrive much after the deadline. However, some states have different requirements, such as the presence of a notary to verify the voter’s identity.
Further complicating matters is the fact that most states are seeing an raise in mail-in ballots. According to the AP, mail-in ballot applications from 22 states skyrocketed from less than 10 percent in 2016 to more than half in November. In the swing state of Pennsylvania, more than half of all votes cast in the primary election were mailed.
Of course, these issues may have a greater impact on Democrats than Republicans because Democrats are the ones who rely primarily on mail-in voting.
“The AP also collected mail-in voting data from Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin for its analysis. Based on the percentage of votes cast in each state’s primary this year, it is estimated that between 185,000 and 292,000 voters in the seven states studied could be disenfranchised if turnout in November is the same as four years ago and rejection rates remain flat, compared to nearly 87,000 ballots rejected in these states in 2016.” – concluded the Associated Press.
Election officials are encouraging voters to return their mail-in ballots as soon as possible to give them time to alert voters to potential problems, such as missing signatures. Election officials in some states don’t start reviewing ballots until Election Day, which means they have a petite window to contact voters whose ballots need attention.
USPS advises voters to return their ballots at least seven days before the election. However, they should be mailed earlier because the USPS will be bombarded with mail-in and mail-in ballots.
There are other concerns about postal voting. In fact, a Democratic operative recently explained in detail how he changed citizens’ votes on absentee ballots. There’s also the issue of USPS losing ballots, which turned out to be a real problem when a Philadelphia reporter ran a mock election.
