Voting by Mail

By Christine Li - Fri Jun 19, 2020

The coronavirus has interrupted many events. However, one of the biggest things it has put a stop on is the process leading up to the 2020 elections including primaries and caucuses. This has led to a debate on whether the elections should be done by mail and how it can change politics for the better.

On April 7th, many citizens of Wisconsin lined up distancing themselves carefully from the person before them to vote in the April election. While many states delayed their elections, Wisconsin chose to still hold them, causing fiery anger on having to choose between exercising their right to vote or their health. But now that decision is up in the air for the November elections, where according to officials, the virus isn't expected to go away just yet. This has led to an alternative method of voting by mail which is surprisingly more efficient and actually solves many of the issues voters face while voting. One of the biggest issues in voting in any election is the lack of participation due to excuses such as ones from work. According to the Pew Research center who questioned 181 registered voters who ended up not voting in the 2014 midterms. They found that 35% of those missed because they had conflicts with school or work. In Nebraska, a city was allowed to have their election done completely by mail, and surprisingly, the voter participation rate was 58% while the rest of the state voted with ballots had a percentage of 24%. Although voting by mail differs from the classic way of voting, it retains many of the key parts like confirming your identity and casting the vote. In fact, all states have the ability to do so through an absentee ballot, yet, there are some states that only gives you one with a reason, other states give citizens the right to request for one without an excuse, yet only 3 states have been voting by mail. The main difference is that it is sent to the votes home previous nts and plto the election. According to the same survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, it says 20% didn't vote because they either didn't like the candidates, didn't know much about the candidates, or didn't care. Another 10% said that they had a problem with the polls like no transportation. Voting by mail not only is the station where you live but gives time to give the voter time to research to make a better vote. In a poll done this April, it shows 72% of Americans would like to vote by mail. If such a huge amount of voters would rather vote this way, why don't we?

One of the main reasons people aren't willing to switch to the alternative method is being afraid of the idea of voters fraud from the lost or stolen ballot. But according to experts, it is very unlikely. It is very difficult to change all the mail ballots at the same time, unlike the ease of messing with a voting machine, and if they chose to change them one by one by stealing one's ballot, and forge a signature. Yet, that getting through is even more difficult knowing that voting by mail can be tracked by the voter. Another reason was how voting by mail can benefit a party. However, studies show that it can't be biased, but rather increase participation.

Seeing how important leadership could be in a time of a pandemic, yet the right has to be questioned, why haven't we switched?