Since the pandemic, I have always voted by mail. With the state’s Early Voting by Mail law it’s super easy to sign up once a year and get all primary and general election ballots mailed to your home address in a pre-paid envelope that you can fill out from the privacy of your home, stick it back in the envelope, and send it back to the board. No driving to a polling place. The ballot just appears in your mail box.
President Trump wants to do away with mail ballots. But they are such a convenience, not just for the elderly and disabled but the rest of us who live busy lives. Usually I know who I am going to vote for well before election day, so why not get it done in advance? The mail is quite secure, and you can track and confirm that your ballot was received by the Board of Elections on their Voter Lookup Website.
At least in New York State, every County and State Board of Elections is staffed by bipartisan boards with both Republican and Democratic party members overseeing each step of the ballot handling. If one party is not appointing inspectors that are zealous defenders of their party’s interest in front of the law, then that’s on the party to appoint people who will do a better job. But there isn’t a lot of evidence that suggests that one party is asleep at the switch. Partisans tend to be well, very partisan, and defenders of their cause.
There also is a paper trail in most states and always the ability to bring voters in front of a judge when there is questions if the person actually voted. When there is alleged fraud, ballots in question can be laid aside and not counted until a voter is questioned under oath on whether or not they cast the ballot. Not that there is much of a chance for fraud, because you have both Democrats and Republicans in the room at all times, advocating for their party’s position. And you always have the paper record to look back on, whether or not it was cast at a polling place and put in the scan-tron voting machine, or mailed in and run through the scantron.
I will keep requesting my early ballot by mail, as it is a sensible and convenient way to vote. I don’t see any problem with moving away from polling sites in favor of allowing people to vote from the privacy of their own homes whenever is convenient for them.
