2020-03-30_Bloomberg_Businessweek

 POLITICS Bloomberg Businessweek March 30, 2020

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in federal or state laws. A dramatic rise in absen-

tee ballot requests could swamp smaller elections

boards that have traditionally used a handful of

workers to handle mail-in ballots (instead of staff-

ing up or using machines that can scan and verify

signatures on envelopes) or have held off opening,

certifying, and counting them until polls close. It

also could mean that the outcome of the presiden-

tial race won’t be known for weeks.

Before the coronavirus crisis, five states were

already going to conduct the fall election entirely

by mail: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and

Washington. Starting in November, California will

allow any county to choose an all-mail-in election,

supplemented by centralized voting centers. Thirty

counties in North Dakota and 11 in Nebraska plan

all-mail elections as well.

But those efforts came after years of discussion

and preparation. Updating procedures to handle a

crush of absentee ballots is a heavy lift. “In our life-

times, I haven’t seen a bigger challenge to elections

officials,” says Thad Kousser, a political science pro-

fessor at the University of California at San Diego.

Michigan and Pennsylvania recently made it eas-

ier to request mail-in ballots, but they didn’t update

related laws to allow them to be processed before

Election Day—which could leave a huge number of

uncounted ballots to be dealt with after polls close.

Both are swing states that may determine the out-

come of the presidential race.

To stave off problems, fast action is required,

election experts say. Congress should consider giv-

ing states money to buy new equipment, hire staff,

and print ballots. State lawmakers need to revisit

their absentee voting laws. Local officials must

make decisions about polling day staffing. And all

those steps take time, which is running out. “It is

not at all unfair to characterize right now as the

last minute,” says Matt Blaze, an expert on elec-

tion security at Georgetown University Law Center.

Matthew Weil, director of the Elections Project

at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.,

think tank, says it may be easier for some states

to shift to an entirely mail-in election, since it’s

simpler to mail every voter a ballot than to sort

through tens of thousands of requests. Mail-in

ballots could be supplemented by voting centers

to assist early voters and disabled, elderly, and

English-as-a-second-language voters, as well as peo-

ple who didn’t receive a ballot in the mail.

Local election officials in Maryland, which

pushed its primary from late April to June because of

the pandemic, have called for an all-mail-in election.

In Montgomery County, the number of requests for

absentee ballots for the primary is already four or

THE BOTTOM LINE Election experts predict mail-in voting will

soar in the remaining primaries and on Election Day. But a tide of

absentee ballots would bring its own problems.

five times the usual rate, says Alysoun McLaughlin,

the county’s deputy elections director. In an all-

mail-in election, she says, she would just shift the

paid volunteers she already has for Election Day into

processing and counting ballots. Even then, she’d

need more funding to handle the cost of sending out

ballots. “There’s no question mailing an absentee

ballot out to every registered voter is going to have

a cost,” she says. “That’s not cheap, but neither is a

public-health emergency.”

The growth of voting by mail will also change

how Americans experience election night. A high

proportion of absentee ballots may lead to frustra-

tion as results aren’t announced for hours or days.

“The public has grown accustomed to instant

gratification on election night, with results and

forecasted winners when polls close or shortly

thereafter,” says Dale Ho, director of the Voting

Rights Project at the ACLU. If we have to adjust to

a slower model, he says, “it’s going to be hard.”

—Ryan Teague Beckwith

Statesthatvote

bymail

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 Permit some

elections to be

conducted by mail

○ Companies push digital voting systems,

while cybersecurity experts warn against them

Or Is This?

While Senators Amy Klobuchar and Ron Wyden

push to expand vote-by-mail programs, a small

group of companies argue for an alternative, one

they claim will boost voter participation nation-

wide: mobile voting.

Jurisdictions in at least 15 states are planning

to use mobile balloting in a limited capacity in

2020 to account for overseas voters and those

with disabilities. Proponents of a digital elector-

ate hope the coronavirus spurs adoption of their

technology. The virus has provided an “opportu-

nity,” says Bradley Tusk, chief executive officer of

Tusk Holdings and a supporter of mobile voting:

“People are being told by the government not to

congregate, and that’s a pretty clear directive not

to go vote.” Tusk, who says he hasn’t invested in

any mobile voting companies, has spent “in the

low seven figures” helping local governments

cover the costs of adopting the systems.

VOTING

ISDOPE