But the bigger risk is that first-time and minority
voters — who more often vote Democratic —
will have their signatures rejected, studies show.
University of Florida political scientist Daniel
Smith found that Black and Latino voters and
those under age 30 in the state were at least
twice as likely as older and white voters to have
ballots rejected over signature mismatches.
COUNTING AND CUSTODY
It took nearly two weeks for Philadelphia to
count 140,000 mailed ballots after the June 2
primary. In New York City, it took six weeks after
the June 23 primary to tally absentee ballots
in one congressional primary where a dispute
over ballots lacking postmarks ended up in
federal court.
Ensuring a trustworthy chain of ballot custody
and bipartisan oversight contributes to those
delays. And sometimes insider fraud does
happen. A former Democratic Pennsylvania
congressman was recently indicted for it.
Which is why election officials including
Neal Kelley, the registrar in Orange County,
California, urge transparency measures for
ballot counting such as live video streaming
and obligatory audits.
Eighty percent of the county’s residents voted
absentee in this year’s primary, up from 60% in
- Kelley said it took time to get all the pieces
in place — he’s developed homegrown ballot-
tracking — to handle such capacity and instill
voter confidence.
“It took us four years,” he said.