From: Steven Rosenfeld <info@ind.media>
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2020 4:33 PM
To: miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Why Nationwide Voting by Mail Isn’t a Silver Bullet in a Pandemic
Can't see this email?
<https://go.ind.media/webmail/546932/579988552/7991937db44343e9cec213517912f781b90561249da110238834e380d5bfb562>
Read Online
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/l-546932-2019-08-26-9y7jlr/dpxlc5/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/l-546932-2019-08-26-9y7jlr/dpxlc5/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
Please support our work.
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/l-546932-2019-08-26-9y7jlr/dpxlc5/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
We can’t do it without you.
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/a-silver-bullet-in-a-pandemic-/dpxlc7/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
Why Nationwide Voting by Mail Isn’t a Silver Bullet in a Pandemic
Calling for absentee balloting is easy, but many legal, technical, logistical
and political obstacles stand between now and November’s election.
By Steven Rosenfeld
Before the COVID-19 virus upended the 2020 election—where several states
delayed presidential primaries, sparking fears that the Trump White House could
seek
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/tate-electors-coronavirus-html/dpxlc9/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
to postpone the November election—Michigan was seeing absentee voting
increase in its primary after passing election reforms via a 2018 ballot
measure
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/e-Constitution-Initiative-2018/dpxlcc/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA)>
.
“It is a success,” said Roz Kimbrough, Detroit Department of Elections senior
training specialist. “We have seven satellite offices for the Detroit
municipality that we opened up to accommodate this overflow beyond just going
out to the precincts and voting directly in their area—giving them availability
to vote absentee.”
Kimbrough was at a command center in a cavernous downtown convention center
hall where she and others were supervising 800 workers who were processing the
last of 141,000 absentee ballots
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/ed-clerk-election-results-aspx/dpxlcf/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
that had been cast in the March 10 primary. Thirty-six percent of the city of
Detroit had voted absentee, compared to a 27 percent nationwide average
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/vote-at-home-/dpxlch/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
in November 2019.
However, shifting broadly to absentee ballots—which arrive by mail and can be
dropped off or mailed back—as congressional Democrats
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/-newsletter-wpisrc-nl-daily202/dpxlck/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
, election law scholars
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/-p-110045/dpxlcm/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
, party officials
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/May-2-and-May-26-Elections-pdf/dpxlcp/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
, campaign lawyers
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/ing-by-mail-that-wont-be-easy-/dpxlcr/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
and activists
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/hHT15cYRhgsbF9r1Y-AI3vTpQ-edit/dpxlct/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
have been saying is the best way to ensure voting next fall amid the
pandemic, is not a simple task.
“Rushing to an all-mail voting system nationwide, without guaranteeing the
reasonable availability of in-person polling sites as an alternative, thus
risks inadvertently—but profoundly—changing the makeup of the electorate,”
writes
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/how-minimize-chaos-unfairness-/dpxlcw/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation &
Research and former Justice Department voting section attorney, in the
Washington Post.
“A switch to all-mail, or mostly mail, voting would also be a massive
administrative undertaking,” he continues
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/how-minimize-chaos-unfairness-/dpxlcw/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
. “It requires planning, training, procurement of new technology and education
of the electorate, particularly if in-person voting is being limited.”
There are formidable legal, technical and logistical hurdles that must be
addressed if a shift to absentee and more early voting options emerges—starting
with the fact that one-third
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/nd-early-voting-aspx-accordion/dpxlcy/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
of states limit absentee voting, and some even
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/ended-Complaint-2020-01-27-pdf/dpxld1/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
criminalize
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/-Filed-Complaint-3-04-2020-pdf/dpxld3/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
efforts
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/allot-Collection-Complaint-pdf/dpxld5/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
to assist absentee voters. Before the pandemic broke, Florida’s
Republican-controlled legislature was “advancing a bill
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/ill-2020-1372-BillText-c2-HTML/dpxld7/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
that would prohibit people from helping with or returning any mail ballots
outside their own family if they received any ‘benefit’ for doing so,” noted
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/aft-aspsidblankform--more-3744/dpxld9/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
Marc Elias, who filed two-dozen
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/our-cases-/dpxldc/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
voting rights suits on behalf of Democrats this cycle.
There are other challenges beyond the legal issues. These issues include the
Postal Service’s ability to deliver ballots amid ongoing budget and workforce
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/running-out-money-2024-162499-/dpxldf/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
cuts, how the public will adapt to new voting regimens (March 17 primaries
saw confusion
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/a-b313-df458622c2cc-story-html/dpxldh/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
and consternation
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/-cast-ballots-in-virus-shadow-/dpxldk/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
as precincts closed and moved), and ensuring that voters are not
disenfranchised
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/behere-Expert-Rpt--filed11-pdf/dpxldm/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
because they lack mailboxes or street addresses.
Processing absentee ballots is labor-intensive and time-consuming under the
best of circumstances. As the pandemic broke and public health officials
advised people to avoid group activities, poll workers—typically middle-age or
older—did not
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/t-show-few-election-day-issues/dpxldp/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
show up
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/-places-unprecedented-election/dpxldr/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
. Many election workers would still be needed to vet ballots and voters in
metro areas, as the Detroit absentee ballot counting operation underscored.
Under the Hood
“We started training back in November to get people prepared,” Kimbrough said
as she and her colleagues awaited the final ballots in Michigan’s March 10
primary. Kimbrough stood like a ship captain by a riser in the center of a
massive hall where nearly 800 people that she and others helped to train sat at
134 counting stations.
The stations were an amalgamation of tables, forms, folders, trays, bags and
one precinct-style ballot scanner. Four to eight people staffed each station.
Upstairs, in another room with 40 more workers, was where the absentee ballots
first came in. The crew there did the same tasks as traditional poll workers.
Instead of checking in voters at local polls, voters were vetted via their
ballot envelope. The workers scanned barcodes of the voters’ precincts and
validated their registrations. They compared signatures on the envelopes to
images of signatures in the state drivers’ licenses file. If questions arose,
those ballots were set aside for further scrutiny. Finally, the ballots were
bundled and taken to the counting boards.
The process continued as carts with trays of ballots were brought into the
hall. The envelopes had been previously opened, and working with 10 ballots at
a time, the ballots in secrecy sleeves were put into another envelope—to keep
all votes secret. Some ballots were remade if their ovals had been sloppily
marked but voter intent was clear. Once distributed to the counting stations,
each envelope was logged and passed before multiple sets of eyes and hands.
Finally, each ballot was inserted into a scanner for counting. When the
counting finished, that tabulator sent its results over a private network to a
central counting room in another city election office.
“This groundwork is really laying the platform for November, for the general
election,” Kimbrough said, explaining the behind-the-scenes operation involved
in handling absentee ballots. “We are sequestered. We are here inside our
central counting board area, and we are doing everything we can to make sure
every ballot is processed.”
The city’s absentee ballot operation was largely hidden. No election worker
could leave until the process was done. A handful of challengers could observe,
but not go in and out until after Election Day voting had stopped. This
operation, with its many steps, stages, procedures and participants, has gone
on for years. It has been sequestered because officials want the workers to
finish before hearing who won.
“We take our job seriously. We make sure that all the people at our tables know
the rules and the laws. We follow that to the letter,” said Gloria Cartier, who
has been counting absentees for 18 years and was supervising a zone. “Now,
somebody is going to mess up here and there. But we are here to put them in
check and make sure they correct themselves.”
Other Hurdles
Detroit’s absentee ballot counting boards offer a partial glimpse at the finish
line of the vote-by-mail process. That view does not include how ballots are
designed and printed (including in many languages), how voters—including new
voters—would receive them, and how they are sent out and returned. The
operation also does not reveal how the ballot totals are tallied and what steps
verify the count.
Detroit was not using some of the newest technologies
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/vote-at-home-/dpxlch/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
that automate parts of the process, as some big urban and suburban counties
in western states have done
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/v-puwnzsjlBK4-feature-youtu-be/dpxldt/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
. But its operation is reflective of states that have taken years, not months,
to develop their procedures, training and workforce. The city recently updated
its voting machines, like many cities in America—including equipment that could
be sidelined this fall.
Within 24 hours of Michigan’s March 10 primary, pandemic-related fears broke
like a tidal wave across the country and prompted reactions from local and
state governments. A half-dozen states and territories have postponed
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/onding-coronavirus-5058500002-/dpxldw/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
their presidential primaries until June. The most abrupt turnaround was in
Ohio, where the governor ignored
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/-p-110045/dpxlcm/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
a court order hours before the March 17 primary.
As this upheaval unfolded, policy experts began to call for a shift
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/oronavirus20Response20Memo-pdf/dpxldy/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
to absentee voting for the November election. Constitutional law experts
worried
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/tate-electors-coronavirus-html/dpxlc9/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
that the White House might exploit the pandemic to delay the 2020 election or
urge 28 states where the GOP holds a legislative majority and governor’s seat
to subvert
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/-p-110008/dpxlf1/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
the Electoral College. These states theoretically could ignore voters and
appoint enough electors to re-elect Trump.
In Congress, Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-MN, and Ron Wyden, D-OR, proposed
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/-newsletter-wpisrc-nl-daily202/dpxlck/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
legislation to “allow every American the ability to vote by mail” and “expand
early voting.” Advocates such as the Brennan Center released their
prescriptions
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/-p-110034/dpxlf3/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
, which centered on expanding absentee and early voting options, wider online
registration and public education. Another push came from Vote at Home
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/2020-03-19/dpxlf5/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
, an advocacy group run by ex-election directors from western cities and
states who have spent years fine-tuning vote-by-mail systems.
Materials from the group and its partners, including videos
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/vote-at-home-/dpxlch/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
showing details of the tools and technologies seen as best practices, are a
world apart from Detroit. These complex and technologically advanced systems
seek to automate what previously has been done manually—such as verifying
ballot envelope signatures and sorting those envelopes by precinct. Some of the
elements described, such as new software
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/ballot-scout/dpxlf7/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
that tracks each mail-in ballot, so voters can know where their ballot is,
can take four-to-eight weeks to set up, one webinar
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/vote-at-home-/dpxlch/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
said. One of the most advanced setups
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/v-puwnzsjlBK4-feature-youtu-be/dpxldt/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
in Orange County, California, is a ballot printing and processing facility
akin to a pressroom for newspapers.
Western states like Oregon, Washington and Colorado have spent years perfecting
voting by mail. Oregon’s procedures manual
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/tions-documents-vbm-manual-pdf/dpxlf9/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
is not light reading. Just how these advances can be applied to counties and
states east of the Rocky Mountains in 2020 is an open question. Most promises
of a silver bullet that will solve the complexities of voting have not lived up
to their billing, especially when time is short. Consider that almost every new
voting system that debuted
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/ms-arent-ready-for-prime-time-/dpxlfc/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
in 2020’s presidential contests before the pandemic has had problems.
Detroit’s absentee ballot counting boards show that a populous county’s process
involves formidable logistics, staffing and training. The videos and briefings
from Vote at Home show that new technology could involve different learning
curves and possibly steep costs. It also raises questions about what is not
being shown, such as discussing if lower-tech steps could be undertaken to
decentralize these operations.
“You don’t need machines” to verify signatures on ballot envelopes, said Jan
BenDor, statewide coordinator of the Michigan Election Reform Alliance
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/wnctpn6/dpxlff/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
and an ex-local election director for two decades. “People do this much
better than machines. You are trained to look for five or six things. It’s a
gestalt perception.”
Outdated State Laws
The hurdles facing a wide pivot to absentee voting begin with updating state
laws that are not supportive of voting by mail, especially in 2020 swing
states. Before the pandemic, a third of the states—typically red-run—required
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/ation-of-absentee-ballots-aspx/dpxlfh/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
voters to satisfy a requirement to get an absentee ballot. Michigan only
passed its “no-excuse” law in 2018 by statewide initiative, which bypassed its
gerrymandered GOP legislature. Kansas, for example, has been sued
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/r-Writ-of-Mandamus-stamped-pdf/dpxlfk/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
because it will not implement 2019 legislation that “cures,” or resolves,
rejected signatures on envelopes in 2020.
Two-thirds of the states have no-excuse absentee ballots, but that doesn’t mean
that their process is entirely voter-friendly. There is a wide variation
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/ation-of-absentee-ballots-aspx/dpxlfh/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
when states must receive the returned ballot to be counted. Some states
require ballots to be received by Election Day, while others extend that period
until the week’s end. That earlier deadline means ballots that have been
postmarked on Election Day, but then were held up in the mail, would not be
counted.
There also are variations with state timelines for contacting voters to cure
signature issues before disqualifying those ballots. And there are varying
post-Election Day timelines
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/eframes-and-Recount-Thresholds/dpxlfm/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
surrounding when all of the votes have to be counted, recounted and results
certified. Cumbersome balloting would conflict with some deadlines.
“It will not be enough for states to simply allow more citizens to vote by
mail,” Marc Elias wrote
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/ing-by-mail-that-wont-be-easy-/dpxlcr/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
in a March 16 commentary in the Washington Post, citing these and other
concerns that he said must “now” be addressed by Congress or by state
legislatures. “Otherwise, it will be again left to the courts to protect the
rights of voters. We must all make sure that the barriers to voting by
antiquated voting laws are not raised higher by the coronavirus.”
The logistical, technical and legal challenges surrounding a shift to absentee
ballots before November’s elections are daunting—but they are not the full
picture. Some in the GOP will likely weigh whether voting by mail will help or
hurt their party’s prospects, just as any new voting regime could have
unintended and even chaotic consequences.
Steven Rosenfeld is the editor and chief correspondent of Voting Booth
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/voting-booth-/dpxlfp/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
, a project of the Independent Media Institute. He has reported for National
Public Radio, Marketplace, and Christian Science Monitor Radio, as well as a
wide range of progressive publications including Salon, AlterNet, the American
Prospect, and many others.
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/l-546932-2019-08-26-9y7jlr/dpxlc5/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
Corporate media won’t cover stories
like the one you just read.
Support our work.
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/voting-booth-/dpxlfp/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/2020-03-19/dpxlfr/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
<https://go.ind.media/listpreferences?ehash=7991937db44343e9cec213517912f781b90561249da110238834e380d5bfb562&email_id=579988552&epc_hash=3cHBFCBczsTKEQACJFofbRZ8dvSsZyPo57UrC45AdZI>
Update Your Preferences |
<https://go.ind.media/unsubscribe/u/546932/7991937db44343e9cec213517912f781b90561249da110238834e380d5bfb562/579988552>
Unsubscribe |
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/l-546932-2019-04-29-88km5l/dpxlft/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
Support IMI
Voting Booth is a project of the Independent Media Institute.
To find out more about Voting Booth and its latest work,
<https://go.ind.media/e/546932/voting-booth-/dpxlfp/579988552?h=U3-C0oZYQzTvpHkrgHjj851ysned0nStUfIPant4OyA>
click here.
18 West 21st Street, Suite 901, New York, NY 10010
© 2020 Independent Media Institute. All Rights Reserved.
<https://go.ind.media/r/546932/1/579988552/open/1>
<https://9kria1fb.emltrk.com/9kria1fb?d=%5bUNIQUE%5d>
