WASHINGTON – (warsoor) – As he unleashes a barrage of attacks on voting by mail, President Donald Trump has increasingly warned that “universal” mail-voting poses the biggest danger for voter fraud and threat to democracy.
But only nine states and the District of Columbia so far plan to hold universal mail-in elections – in which ballots are automatically mailed to all registered voters without needing to first request one. And with early mail-voting set to begin as early as September in some states, election experts say it’s unlikely many more states would have time to make that switch.
A coronavirus pandemic relief package passed by House Democrats would require states to mail absentee ballots to registered voters – but it has gained no traction in the Senate and talks on the aid bill are stalled.
Instead, most states are preparing to make mail ballots an option available by request. That includes several states encouraging the method during the pandemic by mailing voters applications for absentee ballots.
Five of the universal mail-voting states already planned to conduct mostly all-mail elections before the coronavirus pandemic, and only one of the nine states, Nevada, is considered a battleground in the race for president between Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
In-person polling places, although reduced in many states, remain available even in states that vote fully by mail. New Jersey on Friday became the latest state to decide to send ballots out to all voters.
“It’s a tiny number of states that do this,” said Lawrence Norden, director of the Election Reform Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York School of Law. “And they’re not the states that are probably going to determine the outcome of the presidential election.
“In the vast majority of states, voters are given the option to vote by mail, and we should expect that if the primaries were any indication, that many, many people are going to choose that option.”
SOURCE: USA TODAY