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While we are still in the midst of what is becoming a nearly meaningless primary season, the General Election is only 6 months away. It is going to be an unmitigated disaster if we don't act soon. And, we're not going to act soon. While Support Grows for Voting by Mail During Health Crisis (VoA), Few States Are Prepared To Switch To Voting By Mail. That Could Make For A Messy Election. (FiveThirtyEight).
But the larger problem is the lead time it requires to prepare for an election. Most States simply don't have the infrastructure to put together an all-mail election the size and scope of a Presidential. ("A full 29 states (plus D.C.) sent ballots to fewer than 10 percent of their registered voters in 2018.") Some States don't even print ballots, relying on electronic voting machines nearly exclusively (talk about lack of election security!). And then, there are the people and machines required to count those ballots.
This is a major lift, will require federal support, and a complete revamping of the majority of jurisdictions. "The U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s recommended timeline to expand the use of vote-by-mail starts in the first week of April — which was, of course, four weeks ago.' I'm sure most of us are familiar with the term "planned obsolescence". This is looking like "planned disaster".
It is estimated that switching the Presidential General Election to all-mail voting would cost $1.4 Billion. But money isn't the only object. There is the partisan nature of election security - Republicans, for some reason, are dead set against mail-in voting and are opposing it all over. "In reality, most studies have shown that mail voting does not advantage either party, and voter fraud is extremely rare, both in person and by mail."
But the larger problem is the lead time it requires to prepare for an election. Most States simply don't have the infrastructure to put together an all-mail election the size and scope of a Presidential. ("A full 29 states (plus D.C.) sent ballots to fewer than 10 percent of their registered voters in 2018.") Some States don't even print ballots, relying on electronic voting machines nearly exclusively (talk about lack of election security!). And then, there are the people and machines required to count those ballots.
This is a major lift, will require federal support, and a complete revamping of the majority of jurisdictions. "The U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s recommended timeline to expand the use of vote-by-mail starts in the first week of April — which was, of course, four weeks ago.' I'm sure most of us are familiar with the term "planned obsolescence". This is looking like "planned disaster".
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