{"id":167,"date":"2020-07-22T22:03:23","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T22:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.messiah.edu\/politicsinternationalrelations\/?p=167"},"modified":"2020-07-23T14:44:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T14:44:00","slug":"the-vote-is-in-the-mail-making-the-polls-more-accessible-to-voters-civic-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.messiah.edu\/politicsinternationalrelations\/2020\/07\/22\/the-vote-is-in-the-mail-making-the-polls-more-accessible-to-voters-civic-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vote is in the Mail: Making the Polls More Accessible to Voters (Civic Mind)"},"content":{"rendered":"

(What is\u00a0Civic Mind<\/em>?\u00a0 Read our\u00a0welcome post for the series<\/a>!)<\/p>\n

This past spring, the coronavirus pandemic added a layer of difficulty for voters wishing to cast their ballots.\u00a0 Already voters in Texas and other states have faced long lines in recent years, due to a decrease in the number of polling places<\/a>. In April, Wisconsin voters<\/a> waited for hours due to the hitches from safety guidelines after the state supreme court rejected the governor\u2019s request for an extension.\u00a0 However, voters in some states did not have the same experience.\u00a0 Some states, like Pennsylvania, had adopted no-excuse absentee voting prior to the pandemic<\/a>\u00a0or made this change after its onset.\u00a0 This shift, along with pushing back the date of primaries, allowed voters the opportunity \u2013 though it did not require them \u2013 to vote by mail.<\/p>\n

Although the current context has put the idea of voting by mail front and center in the public conversation, it is by no means a new way to cast ballots.\u00a0 Rather, states have adopted various reforms to increase voter access to the polls.\u00a0 The power to establish election practices has been primarily left to the states, based on the provisions of Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the US Constitution.\u00a0 The benefits of the federalist system are that states are able to experiment and also learn from successful practices elsewhere.\u00a0 Based on the data from states that have used mail-only voting systems, as well as the number of states that have moved to no-excuse absentee ballots, this method of voting is not only established, the results are encouraging, even though it is important to recognize that the way that such a system is put into place impacts its results.<\/p>\n

Oregon has nearly 40 years of experience with an effective vote-by-mail system<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0Some counties have used the option since the early 1980s and the state as a whole experimented with it in a special congressional election in 1995.\u00a0 The response was so strong that they modified the entire system a few years later, with resounding support in a state-wide referendum.\u00a0 Not only did this policy change extend the practice across elections, but also made it the only method of voting. \u00a0Officials note minimal issues of fraud\/security<\/a> and champion the increase in turnout.<\/a>\u00a0 More broadly, alternate means of voting have served an increasing percentage of individuals across the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the vote-by-mail method is part of a larger topic of voting accessibility, which has long been a concern for those studying democratic systems.\u00a0 The United States has had fairly low levels of turnout in comparison to other developed democracies<\/a>, only rising in the last few general elections. Part of the difference relates to the need for US voters to actively register, as opposed to automatic registration that occurs in other countries.\u00a0 (And of course, Australia stands out in its rates due to compulsory voting, a characteristic for which there are valid philosophical disagreements.) In addition, compared to parliamentary and\/or unitary systems, the United States has many more elections across its levels of government.<\/p>\n

Over the years, there have been numerous reforms designed to help promote voter turnout, especially among lower-income individuals who may have challenges in transportation or taking time from hourly jobs to vote.\u00a0 Early on, the idea of Election Day as a holiday drew attention, but the reality is that it would not help those individuals whose jobs continued day to day in retail and other necessity positions.\u00a0 As a result, states have explored several other options.\u00a0 Early in-person voting<\/a> has existed in some states for several decades, allowing voters multiple days over which to cast their ballots.\u00a0 Mail-in ballot systems, as noted more recently, have grown to include five states that operate solely by mail<\/a> (in addition to Oregon<\/a> – Washington, Colorado, Hawaii and Utah).\u00a0 However, more recently we have seen a rise in another method that seems to offer more promise for prompter reform \u2013 no-excuse absentee voting.<\/p>\n

Although the practice of no-excuse absentee voting has been around for quite a while, with California first launching the practice in the early 1980s<\/a>, it has spread as an option in subsequent years. With absentee voting already present in states, allowing individuals to cast their vote by mail \u2013 even if they will be in their area of residence on Election Day \u2013 builds on existing systems in the states for managing, distributing and counting ballots.\u00a0 There is certainly something to be said for casting a ballot in person \u2013 this system allows both.\u00a0 In addition, the hybrid approach allows for states \u2013 and voters \u2013 to have more time to consider the impact of a longer-term shift to vote-by-mail as the primary option. \u00a0Currently, 30 states have opened their absentee ballot process to allow no-excuse option<\/a>, in addition to the five states that conduct voting by mail only.<\/p>\n

Although some challenges exist with this option, they can be effectively addressed.\u00a0 The timing of such a transition, depending on how existing systems work, can make or break the process, as the responsible offices\/bureaus will need to have sufficient staff and resources. In addition, voters will need to adapt to the new process, especially if they have never cast an absentee ballot. Some states mail the ballots automatically, others require the voter to request the ballot; the voter must then return the ballot by the deadline.\u00a0 Thus, states that allow for both may allow people to shift more gradually. (More information related to common concerns is offered by the Bipartisan Policy Center<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

This past week, I received an email notification of eligibility to vote by mail in Pennsylvania<\/a>.\u00a0 (Due to my registration category, I was not eligible to vote in the primaries in June, so I had not previously been set up in the system for this process).\u00a0 It was pretty simple.\u00a0 PA tracks confirmation with emails notifying sending\/ receipt and processing.\u00a0 It also allows you to select automatic mailing of future ballots, making it a one and done step if you continue to vote in future elections unless you move.\u00a0 For more information on the processes available in your state, please check this information from Ballotpedia<\/a>, an initiative of the non-partisan Lucy Burns Institute.\u00a0 You can also have a deeper look into election information on your state, and even access the link to its online voter registration.<\/p>\n

In case you are interested, Lucy Burns<\/a> was one of the suffragettes who teamed up with Alice Paul and others to launch the National Woman\u2019s Party and lead the final push to secure support for the passage of the 19th<\/sup> Amendment. They and others have sacrificed much to secure and protect the right to vote; we not only honor their efforts but increase the responsibility of our system when we cast a vote — especially an informed one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(What is\u00a0Civic Mind?\u00a0 Read our\u00a0welcome post for the series!) This past spring, the coronavirus pandemic added a layer of difficulty for voters wishing to cast their ballots.\u00a0 Already voters in Texas and other states have faced long lines in recent years, due to a decrease in the number of polling places. In April, Wisconsin voters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11462],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civic-mind"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.messiah.edu\/politicsinternationalrelations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.messiah.edu\/politicsinternationalrelations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.messiah.edu\/politicsinternationalrelations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.messiah.edu\/politicsinternationalrelations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.messiah.edu\/politicsinternationalrelations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.messiah.edu\/politicsinternationalrelations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.messiah.edu\/politicsinternationalrelations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions\/169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.messiah.edu\/politicsinternationalrelations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.messiah.edu\/politicsinternationalrelations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.messiah.edu\/politicsinternationalrelations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}