With just over a month until the election, many concerns exist as to how Americans will vote. Will voters vote at the polls or by using mail-in ballots? President Trump has already expressed concerns how voters will vote in the election. It is possible ballots will be sent to individuals who have never voted before or have not registered to vote. And with a rush to mail-in ballots, along with voter rolls that are inaccurate, the outcome will have a significant risk of fraud, potentially disenfranchising thousands of voters. Mailboxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged, and can be illegally harvested. It will be the greatest rigged election in history. When mail-in ballots are not returned correctly, another person could gain access to his or her personal information which may then be used against the voter. A mail-in ballot could be sent to the incorrect home address. Further, votes which are delayed would need to be counted, thus delaying the outcome of the election which is then likely to be contested causing confusion and a lack of voter trust.
Extra safety caution measures have been already used and are expected to be implemented to protect voters while voting at the polls including the use of social distancing, personal protective equipment (PPE) and having fewer voters wait in line while voting at the polls. Consideration between voting at the polls or using mail-in ballots will ultimately affect voter turnout this year. Early voting and personal protective equipment are no doubt effective ways of safeguarding against the coronavirus. The President, among with many others, have said, “given such conditions more mail-in ballots will be used this year than in previous elections.” A rush to mail-in ballots could result in these forms not being completed correctly or forged. Caitlin Huey-Burns and Adam Brewster of CBS News stated “Trump claims the 2020 election would be “rigged” due to “millions of mail-in ballots being printed by foreign countries.” Issues of this type of voter fraud have already been found in New Jersey, Maryland, and Georgia.
Time and costs are factors that need to be considered when an extensive number of mail-in ballots are sent by mail. When these ballots are returned in mass quantities, there are fewer opportunities to identify and recognize instances of voter fraud. A few mail-in ballots which are sent at the last minute would not make it in time to be counted as votes in the election. In order to identify mail-in ballot voter fraud, extensive training must be provided by law enforcement to election officials.
“Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has already personally invested $24 million in six core battleground states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona. The effort comes as states rush to find new ways to ensure voters can cast ballots safely in November amid the coronavirus pandemic. State officials are eager to reduce the size of gatherings at the polls. President Trump has claimed mail-in voting is rife with fraud.”
The election will be interesting to follow and while it is truly an individual voter’s decision as to how he or she will vote in the presidential election, we should not rush to methods that may do more harm than good. Francisco Canseco, Director of the Election Protection Project at Texas Public Policy Foundation, wrote recently in the Austin American Statesmen, (that) “mail-in ballots do not solve the issue of voter turnout but exacerbate it, and as we have seen, inadequate preparation can cause confusion and delay the processing of results. This ultimately could cause fewer people to vote, feeling their votes may be lost, stolen, or not counted.” The coronavirus will have an influential impact on the election as far as the number of votes which are received by each candidate. We should be sure those votes counted are legitimately cast.