In the era of Covid-19, our health depends on the Post Office. Not only do we get medications and other health-related items via the mail, but our ability to vote will also be dependent on a safe vote by mail service. In a pandemic, it is just too risky to depend on in-person voting.
So is vote by mail safe? The short answer is YES. It is safe. We have been voting by mail in the form of absentee ballots since the Civil War. So why is the President telling us there is potential fraud and abuse? The Commission he established in 2018 to investigate voter fraud produced NO EVIDENCE of fraud and was quickly disbanded. As of now, at least 76% of American voters can vote by mail in the Fall.
Here are a few things you should know about voting by mail:
- Five states have been voting completely by mail for several years without any evidence of fraud or abuse. Those states are Washington, Hawaii, Oregon, Colorado and Utah. Twenty-one other states allow voting by mail for specific local elections. And the President himself suggested this week that voters in Florida should vote by mail this year!
- Voting by mail is not that different from the absentee voting that we have been doing since the Civil War. All military and residents who live outside the U. S. are allowed to vote by mail. Sixteen states require some “excuse” to get an absentee ballot, but thirty-four states do not. (Check out what your state requires.)
- The excuses allowed for getting an absentee ballot vary by state. Check out this URL to find out what your state requires. Generally, the “excuse” is inability to get to the polls in person. In the era of Covid-19, many of us are vulnerable because of our age, so that excuse should be valid.
- California will be sending out ballots to EVERY registered voter on October 5th. You don’t have to request one. It will automatically be sent to you. (If you are not registered to vote or have questions about your registration, check out https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voting-resources/voting-california/registering-vote/
- In California you will have until Election Day November 3 to submit your ballot for postmark by 8 pm PST. So you will have from approximately the first week of October until Election Day to get that ballot postmarked.
Is mail-in voting more secure than in-person?
- Mail-in voting is actually safer than in-person voting, because addresses for mail-in voting are constantly updated, and ballots get returned if addressee is unknown, whereas in-person voting locations may not have up to date information.
- Mail-in ballots require signatures that match other signatures on file. If your signature has changed because of illness, do you best to match your prior signature, but if there is a question, the registrar will contact you and give you a chance to explain.
- Mail-in ballots have bar codes that allow confirmation that the ballot is real and secure. It is very difficult to defraud bar codes. In addition, when states are processing ballots, the ballots have to be of a specific weight and size and the bar codes have to match voter lists. Paper ballots are actually less hackable than electronic voting.
TRACK your ballot
Once you have filled out your ballot, in California at least, you can go online and track the status of your ballot. Has it been received? Has it been tallied? In other states, there are different rules. It would be great if we had one national system, but we do not. So find out what your state allows and follow up!
HOWEVER — given that the USPS is overloaded now (with letters and postcards urging people to vote and a reduction in staffing), and there is concern that mail may be slower than usual, don’t wait any amount of time to vote once you have a ballot in hand. Ballots will NOT require a stamp and can be dropped at a variety of places, including a post office, a polling place, a “drop box” and the registrar of voters in your location. NO EXCUSE for not getting that ballot in on time.
Bottom line? Mail-in voting is safe and secure, but most urgently it will keep you from getting exposed to Covid-19 at a polling place. So VOTE AS EARLY AS YOU CAN. Send your ballot by USPS or take it to a drop off box (if you state has one) or a County site. (Arizona has this website where you can find a drop off place for your ballot. Other states probably also have locations as well.
Use the internet to find out information about your state and location. Google “where can I register to vote” or “how can I get a mail-in ballot” or “where can I drop off my ballot”? You will be surprised how much information there is about voting and how to do it. (New NBC website helps you figure out your own State’s rules – https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/plan-your-vote-state-by-state-guide-voting-by-mail-early-in-person-voting-election/) And call and write your Congressperson or Senator and let them know your very health depends on your ability to vote by mail!
UPDATE: One of our subscribers sent us this information about dropping off your ballot at a polling place:
“I did some follow up research from the 2020 California Election Officers Digest. There is no requirement for identifying the voter or person dropping off the voter’s mail-in ballot. Many precincts now have a drop off box for mail-in ballots so there is no need to wait in a line. We always vote absentee but last year or the year before we missed the mail in deadline so my wife simply dropped ours off at the local precinct. So the answer is there is (or should be anyway) no need to wait in a line when dropping off mail-in ballots in California.”
Hello Linda – thanks for your nice words. I have always voted by mail, as I used to travel a lot for work, and it was easier for me – as a Naturalized citizen I am so proud to be able to do this, I still remember when I became a citizen, had to go downtown to take a test, the instructor was very nice, and felt I knew everything I had to know, and I can remember when the celebration took place, my parents and I went to the Hollywood Bowl, it was raining cats and dogs, but nobody got up to leave – what a thrill. Just not too thrilled about what is happening to our wonderful country, but the only way to change it is by voting. Keep writing, I so enjoy your BLOGS. Sent with love, Ursula
Dear Linda – as a naturalized citizen, I have never missed an election, I used to travel a lot for work before I retired due to my health, and I shall not miss this one – I just find it so sad that because the new Postmaster is a friend and contributor of thePresident, we find ourselves in this position – it is a shame that because Trump is afraid that he will lose he is doing all this, and makes me ashamed of being a naturalized citizen – regardless, I shall never miss an election – I am so proud of belonging to the U.S. We must not re-elect Trump, as the country cannot handle it. Thanks for another fantastic article. Ursula
Ursula, you will get a ballot in the mail sometime after October 5th. You can mail it back in safely. I know it’s hard for you to get out, so please trust the Post Office. Just mail it back as soon as you possibly can!
Hi Linda:
Absentee ballots can be dropped off at the polling station by an authorized third party designee enabling even the most isolated most incapacitated persons to vote without using the Post Office. The Post Office is administered under the executive branch of the Federal Government which many people like me feel is currently under the control of a jackboot insane despot who does not consider that he is bound by any oath or law, who answers to absolutely no one, and who will stop at nothing to remain in power, Nov. 3 election notwithstanding. To add funding to the Post Office under these dismal circumstances, in the hope it will somehow enable them to overcome budget shortfalls and process mail reliably for the upcoming Presidential election is, to me, sheer folly!
Steve H.
Steve did some research about dropping off your ballot and found this information:
“I did some follow up research from the 2020 California Election Officers Digest. There is no requirement for identifying the voter or person dropping off the voter’s mail-in ballot. Many precincts now have a drop off box for mail-in ballots so there is no need to wait in a line. We always vote absentee but last year or the year before we missed the mail in deadline so my wife simply dropped ours off at the local precinct. So the answer is there is (or should be anyway) no need to wait in a line when dropping off mail-in ballots in California.”
Linda:
Thank you for your excellent article regarding the U.S. Postal Service and the safety and efficacy of voting by mail. Unfortunately I would have to strongly disagree in view of the steps being taken by the Trump administration and his sycophant, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy who is, as we speak, taking active steps to dismantle and disable the U.S. Postal Service so that it can no longer be relied upon to insure that the Nov 3 election will produce even a deterministic outcome, let alone one that is fair, accurate and above board.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic I have absolutely NO intention of submitting my ballot to the U.S. Postal Service! Rather, I intend and recommend to whoever is reading this to submit absentee ballots to their listed polling station(s) which are (still!) under the lawful jurisdiction of California state and local government, not to our Wrong Dishonorable Despot in Chief, Donald J. Trump.
Steve, I don’t disagree with the concern you express about the integrity of the USPS and its ability to handle our mail ballots. But for some, going in person somewhere to deliver your ballot is not even possible. So I think we have to approach this from several points of view — 1) High intensity pressure on the President, Congress and the USPS itself to guarantee there are enough funds to manage the mail-in ballot process. The Secretary of State in Washington says they have full confidence they can handle a total mail by vote process. Other states may require a lot more pressure to be able to make the same assurance. 2) Even if we can’t vote in person, many of us can drop our ballots off in a drop box or with the Registrar of Voters in our locale so they are directly delivered and don’t require any mailing at all. 3) Return our ballots by mail immediately when we get them. In California they are mailed out October 5, and once we receive the ballot, we will still have time to mail it back, even if the mail process is slower than usual. We can also “track” our ballot in California, so we will know when it arrives and when it has been tallied.
Whatever we do, WE MUST VOTE. And everyone is going to have to assess her or his situation as to what is the safest way to do that. It is absolutely tragic that I have to even be saying this!
Linda-
We are definitely in total agreement about the importance of voting on Nov. 3!! The upcoming election is, in my opinion and by a vast margin, the most important one since I was born in 1941. The problem is all in the details, how to insure that my submitted ballot actually counts!! And yes, how tragic it is that I should even have to write something like this!
Steve