An Uncertain Future

By: Zachary Chan

550,000. That’s how many mail-in ballots had been rejected as of late August, according to NPR, far surpassing the just under 320,000 denied in total for the 2016 election. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, millions of more Americans are still expected to cast an absentee ballot. This has led to baseless claims by some Republicans, most notably of which from President Trump, that the 2020 presidential election will be defrauded by the mail-in voting system. Politics aside, the 2020 election is set to be a crucial fight over the future of our country, with all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate, and the presidency all up for grabs. So, with the fate of our democracy at stake, here’s everything you need to know about the election.

Mail-In Voting/Absentee Ballots

As mentioned before, many millions of people in the U.S. are likely to vote by mail or use absentee ballots because of the risk of coronavirus spreading at in-person voting locations. However, Republicans contend that such methods are subject to widespread fraud and have placed these processes under increased scrutiny in light of the upcoming 2020 election. President Trump has said on Twitter that there is “...NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent.” Despite these claims, Voice of America stated that a plethora of nonpartisan election experts has unanimously declared widespread voter fraud in the U.S. to be nonexistent, especially with mail-in voting.

Foreign Interference

As you may remember from 100 years ago, the 2016 election received a great deal of negative press after it was revealed that the Russian government played a major role in affecting the outcome. Come November, it seems a similar situation is at risk of unfolding or at least feared to be, as the Pew Research Center has found that three-fourths of Americans believe it is likely there will be outside influence in the election. This is up eight points from the 67% of Americans who said the same in 2018. But just how much are these views based in reality? Well, the Director of National Intelligence said in a press release that state actors, the most significant of which include China, Russia, and Iran, are certain to “use covert and overt influence measures in their attempts to sway U.S. voters’ preferences and perspectives, shift U.S. policies, increase discord in the United States, and undermine the American people’s confidence in our democratic process.”

Polling Outlook

Recent polling of registered voters presents former Vice President Joe Biden with a large lead over his incumbent adversary, President Donald Trump. Despite the various surveys foreshadowing a crushing defeat to President Trump, there remains some skepticism from both sides of the aisle, with a campaign official for Trump saying, “...pollsters are skewing the results...” and some Democrats fearing a repeat of the 2016 election, in which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was ahead in the polls but ultimately lost the election. A Trump comeback is unlikely, however, as Biden maintains an eight-point lead over him.

All in all, the upcoming 2020 election remains under increasing amounts of scrutiny, with foreign interference and the COVID-19 pandemic casting shadows of doubt over the voting process. And in an election that will very likely determine how the United States moves into the coming era, confidence in the democratic process is as important as ever.