Dear friends, families and colleagues,
This fall’s elections are critical for our nation’s safety and our nation’s future. We all saw what happened so very recently in Wisconsin where voters waited in long lines and got sick as a result, and many polling stations were closed – leaving only five voting stations in the entire city of Milwaukee.
I hope you will encourage Congress and your state’s election officials to make mail in balloting available for every registered American voter. There are two ways to do so – state-by-state decision-making or a federal law.
California, for example, recently decided that all registered voters will be sent a mail in ballot for the fall election with a postage paid return envelope. Wisconsin yesterday decided that all registered voters will be sent an absentee ballot for the fall election. https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/28/politics/wisconsin-absentee-voting-applications/index.html Michigan and Nevada recently did the same.
The Brennan Center has compiled a list of those states that make it very easy and nearly impossible to vote by mail. http://www.luciensblog.com/blog/2020/5/21/mail-in-balloting-options-and-obstacles-state-by-state-from-the-brennan-center States with lots of limitations on mail-in voting include: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, and West Virginia.
Some states impose extra-burdensome regulatory hurdles for absentee voting. In Alabama, you must apply to vote by mail with an application signed by two witnesses or an authorized official like a notary public. Your request must be received 5 days before the election. In Rhode Island, your request to vote by mail must be received 21 days before the election. Two witnesses or a notary public must sign your request.
Texas state government elected officials and the Texas Supreme Court are doing all they can to prevent mail-in voting in the fall elections. https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/864143739/texas-voters-are-caught-in-the-middle-of-a-battle-over-mail-in-voting
Here’s the letter to Congress that I prepared for the Lawyers Defending American Democracy in support of the mail-in vote option for the federal elections this fall.
https://lawyersdefendingdemocracy.org/open-letter-to-congress-to-enable-mail-in-voting-for-all-eligible-voters The time for Congress to act is now in the next stimulus package.
The President has recently taken to his twitter account, saying mail in balloting is rife with fraud and that California is allowing the undocumented to vote. Even Twitter has labeled this as false. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/technology/twitter-trump-mail-in-ballots.html And Senator Mitt Romney of Utah pointed out that mail-in ballots are in no way disadvantaging Republican electoral results in his state. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/498916-romney-counters-trump-90-percent-of-very-republican-utah-votes-by-mail
I hope you will encourage your state’s Senators and Representatives and your state’s election officials to make mail-in balloting available for all their registered voters this fall.
The Rhode Island Board of Elections has embraced mail in balloting for the Presidential primary this week. https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20200421/what-you-need-to-know-about-rhode-islands-mostly-mail-ballot-primary
Connecticut likewise has decided to allow absentee voting in tamper proof election drop boxes in its Presidential primary that has now been delayed til August; unless a vaccine has been developed and is widely available by then; they are using federal CARES Act funding to pay for this. https://www.courant.com/coronavirus/hc-news-coronavirus-primary-election-absentee-ballots-order-20200520-qvrqzkcqmveednqqhvcxup7fbu-story.html
Thanks, stay safe, and all the best.
Lucien