Mail-In Ballots
In these current times, mail-in voting seems to be the only way to vote while actively following the CDC guidelines for subduing COVID-19. It’s voting while social distancing― you don’t even have to leave your house. However, even those of us who live in mail-in ballot states already have been alarmed at recent news surrounding voter fraud and suppression in regards to mail-in ballots.
The United States Department of Justice investigated a case where a postal worker admitted to changing absentee ballots, where he altered the chosen party from Democrat to Republican. “CBS This Morning” reviewed a mock ballot experiment in Philadelphia where they found that 3% of the mail-in ballots went missing or were misplaced. That’s 3% of voters who were not counted. The Atlantic documented the various issues that New York has already faced with the influx of absentee ballots, varying from not having the time to count them, to invalidating 1 in 5 ballots, to not being able to print enough ballots to meet the demand.
For those of us in Oregon, do we have to worry? Objectively, no. In an article by The Washington Post on the topic of which states allow voting by mail, the authors included a graph depicting that almost every vote cast in Oregon was by mail. However, that same year, the Oregon Secretary of State has noted that out of all 2.7 million registered voters, only 67% voted in 2018, roughly 1.8 million votes for general elections. According to the census, they counted approximately 3.3 million people over 18 years old living in Oregon in 2019. So where did those 1.5 million people go? Why aren’t they registered? And why aren’t all of us who are registered, voting?
We must get every available person registered to vote so that each person can truly practice democracy. Politicians know that young people and minorities are the least likely to vote, like Mitt Romney, and they will take advantage of that and appeal to the demographics who do vote. That leaves a lot of voices unheard, and creates a government that caters to specific people. States that have not had the infrastructure to process and proceed with mail-in ballots need to urgently follow the lead of states that do, like Oregon, in order to fulfill the promise that every eligible voter can vote. With the heightened tensions of this politically charged period in our timeline, it’s crucial to utilize every option we have to make what changes we can. Voting is a nonviolent method of change, and can be done without interacting with anyone else to accommodate for COVID-19.
What’s important is that you exercise your right to vote― and do it in a timely fashion! Many people have noticed a delay in delivery and shipping time through USPS, so it is advised that you get your ballot in two weeks prior. If Election Day is November 3rd, then you should attempt to mail your ballot in before October 20th. Every vote counts!
Written by: Mattie Richardson
Sources repeated:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndwv/pr/pendleton-county-mail-carrier-admits-attempted-election-fraud
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-vote-by-mail-ballot-counted-election/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/vote-by-mail-states/
https://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Pages/electionsstatistics.aspx
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/OR
Picture credit:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mail-in-voting-faces-slew-of-issues-nationwide
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