Voting Is Now a Public Health Issue
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Georgia鈥檚 mid-June primary was the latest example of pandemic-induced voter suppression. Long lines at polling stations stretched for blocks and blocks as socially distanced voters waited for several hours to vote in person. In Fulton County, which includes Atlanta and is the state鈥檚 most populated county, to cast their ballot.
Scenes like the one in Georgia鈥攁nd 鈥攈ave ignited a national conversation about voting by mail. In response, President Trump has claimed that voting by mail 鈥溾�� and favor the Democratic Party. Notably, about voting by mail, breaking with its previous practice of not calling out Trump鈥檚 falsehoods.
over another, a 2020 study from Stanford University found. Additionally, a recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that . Even when broken down by political party, 87% of Democrats and 49% of Republicans favor expanding mail-in voting.
鈥淯ndermining voter confidence in the system is a form of voter suppression,鈥� said Ra煤l Mac铆as, counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. 鈥淢illions of Americans have voted by mail safely and securely for decades.鈥�
This is really the time when the federal government needs to step up.
The Brennan Center, a nonpartisan law and policy institute, has to hold fair elections during the pandemic.
As of May 2020, 29 states and Washington, D.C., have 鈥渘o excuse鈥� absentee voting, and five other states conduct elections entirely by mail with limited in-person voting options. However, . While to receive an absentee ballot, four of them鈥擳ennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, and Texas鈥攈ave not made the necessary changes to allow absentee voting widely available during the pandemic.
In Texas, the state Supreme Court went as far as to . As it stands, Texas will only send absentee ballots to voters who are 65 years or older, disabled, out of the county during the election period, or confined to jail.
According to MOVE Texas, a nonprofit organization focused on civic engagement for youth in Texas, the ruling is anti-voter and could lead to voter suppression by forcing residents to choose between their health and voting. But, seeing anti-voter decisions from the state government is not a surprise to the MOVE team.
鈥淚n the past, we鈥檝e seen elections as a statewide issue,鈥� said Raven Douglas, political director of MOVE Texas. 鈥淏ut, after the 2019 legislative session where we were able to defeat [鈥 a really bad anti-voter bill, we came together with a number of ally organizations and decided we could no longer rely on our state government to pass pro-democracy reform.鈥�
You need to make sure you鈥檙e creating a system that doesn鈥檛 disenfranchise voters.
So, in addition to starting a petition to voice the organization鈥檚 disappointment in the , MOVE Texas is turning to local officials to help voters in other ways. Douglas noted that county officials can greenlight curbside voting options, extend clerk鈥檚 office hours, provide extra drop boxes, and more.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to wait on your governor or your secretary of state to pass guidance, you can do that directly with your elections administrator and your county clerks,鈥� Douglas said.
Mac铆as also acknowledges the need for in-person voting expansion during the upcoming elections.
鈥淲e think it鈥檚 really important that every voter has the opportunity to vote by mail this election, but also in-person voting has to be maintained,鈥� Mac铆as said. That means modifying polling places to fit social distancing guidelines, expanded early voting, making voter registration easier online or by mail, and investing in education programs about how this election might be different from what voters are used to.
Additionally, Mac铆as notes that for most states to scale up their vote by mail systems to handle a much higher volume of ballots, they will need new equipment, such as ballot sorters, signature-verification software, optical scanning devices, and enough printers to handle the expected increase of applications and ballots.
鈥淲e really want to see Congress send more money to help elections officials conduct their elections,鈥� Mac铆as said. 鈥淭his is really the time when the federal government needs to step up. It鈥檚 too important.鈥�
In Michigan, Voters Not Politicians, a pro-democracy organization, is advocating for an even more radical solution: skipping the application process and just sending absentee ballots to all voters, with postage-paid return envelopes, for the November election, through a .
We should be trying to make it easier to vote for everyone, particularly in this election cycle.
鈥淲e鈥檙e running out of time,鈥� Nancy Wang, Voters Not Politicians鈥� editorial director, said. 鈥淥ur campaign started seven weeks ago and with every day it鈥檚 becoming harder and harder.鈥�
VoteSafe is asking state officials to take other measures to fight voter disenfranchisement, such as supplying secure ballot drop boxes and accessible polling locations that follow protocols for sanitization and social distancing, increasing funding for ballot security and tracking, and expanding access to local clerks鈥� offices leading up to Election Day.
鈥淲e wouldn鈥檛 be blazing trails here, we would really be following best practices,鈥� Wang said, citing the expert advice the organization received from the former elections director for Denver. .
One of those best practices is running a culturally competent education campaign, meaning that Wang and her team must be sensitive to different communities鈥� history with voting and cater to that. For example, Wang says, some people don鈥檛 trust the U.S. Postal Service, so there must be enough drop boxes for physical ballots and in-person polling sites for voters who may be deterred by having to send their ballot through the mail.
鈥淵ou need to make sure you鈥檙e creating a system that doesn鈥檛 disenfranchise voters for other reasons,鈥� Wang said. To do this, Voters Not Politicians has partnered with community groups across Michigan to make sure the messaging and education surrounding the election is sensitive and resonates with the state鈥檚 communities.
鈥淭his issue is really a concern for organizations that work not just in voting rights spaces,鈥� Wang said. 鈥淭here is a lot of really great work being done by other groups in the state.鈥�
Partnerships with organizations that don鈥檛 strictly deal with voting rights can also help show that voting by mail is not a partisan issue, Wang says. A majority of Michigan voters are supportive of expanding voting options鈥�67% of voters approved a 2018 proposal to expand voting by mail.
鈥淲e should be trying to make it easier to vote for everyone, particularly in this election cycle,鈥� Mac铆as said. 鈥淲e shouldn鈥檛 be asking voters to choose between their health and their vote.鈥�
That same sentiment is what prompted the nonpartisan organization Democracy North Carolina to join several other voting and elections organizations in a .鈥�
鈥淭he decision to sue came down to the fact that our general assembly has a history of either inaction on voting rights issues, or outright hostility to voting rights,鈥� said Tomas Lopez, the group鈥檚 executive director.
What鈥檚 needed, according Democracy North Carolina鈥檚 suit, is a relaxation of voter registration requirements, making in-person voting safer and ballot drop boxes available, and easing the process of absentee voting. While North Carolina is a no-excuse absentee voting state鈥攎eaning anyone can apply to receive an absentee ballot in the mail鈥攁bsentee voters must get the signatures of two witnesses or a notary for their absentee ballot to be counted.
According to Lopez, 4% of North Carolina voters voted by mail in 2016, but the state board of elections predicts 30% to 40% of voters will vote by mail this year. Lopez fears that with social distancing orders, absentee voters won鈥檛 be able to acquire two witnesses, or a notary, and will either not submit their ballot, or submit it and have the ballot rejected.
鈥淎ll the stuff that we鈥檙e doing is about trying to make sure that our election rules are responsive to the reality that people are having to live in,鈥� he said.
Another reality is that COVID-19 is disproportionally affecting Black and brown communities, the same communities that efforts.
鈥淥ne of the really concerning parts of this is that, absent the kind of changes we are putting forward, voting access for Black and brown North Carolinians is going to take a double hit, from COVID and all the ways which it鈥檚 hitting communities, and from all the ways the election rules are failing to respond,鈥� Lopez said.
鈥淭he election is already different, the question is whether the rules are going to respond to it or not,鈥� Lopez said. 鈥淎ll of these COVID response issues are rooted in things we鈥檇 like to see in November.鈥�
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Isabella Garcia
is a former solutions reporter and former editorial intern for 精东影业 Media. Her work has appeared in The Malheur Enterprise and 精东影业 Magazine. Isabella is based in Portland. She can be reached at isabellagarcia.website.
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