Big changes in the voting process like the ones we may need this year will probably have to be enacted on a state-by-state basis
Voting by mail is routine in Washington, but not in much of the country. Photo: Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images The COVID-19 crisis is already roiling our erratic, patchwork election system as states where people are afraid of long voting lines delay primaries. Louisiana and Georgia have already postponed presidential primaries, and New York is considering a delay in its April 28 presidential primary.
Fully 16 states limit remote voting to “absentee ballots” that must be requested by the voter along with an affadavit offering an excuse for not being able to vote in person. Seven of those states waive the “excuse” requirement for voters over a certain age . Some of the states that discourage voting by mail do offer early voting in-person , which is sometimes viewed as the functional equivalent, but obviously is no substitute during a pandemic.
Of the 33 states that do allow voting by mail without some excuse, 23 require that voters proactively request a mail ballot. Of those, 9 require separate applications for each election . Often political parties or advocacy groups are involved — sometimes heavily — in facilitating mail-ballot requests, though in states with in-person early voting that may become the favored nontraditional turnout strategy for particular groups .
Five states plus the District of Columbia allow voters to register as permanent voters-by-mail who will automatically receive mail ballots so long as they keep voting regularly. Unsurprisingly, the percentage of voting by mail has gone up in these jurisdictions. All Voting-by-Mail States Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington
Measures Needed to Make All-Mail-Ballot Elections Fair States that are already all-mail elections are beginning to take measures to make that method of voting equally accessible to all voters in ways that are often controversial, particularly to Republicans who tend to think of voting as a privilege rather than a right.
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