2022 has begun, and with it, the mid-term election processes. Primaries will be held this spring, and the national Congressional elections in November. Given the narrow margins between the two major parties in Congress and the increasingly major differences between them in philosophy and political tactics, it promises to be a very competitive election. The competition promises also to be bitter. We are already seeing signs of that in new state-level restrictions on voter access. The challenges and false charges that Trump and his cohort continue to promote make it essential that we find a new consensus on how citizens can best exercise their rights—and responsibilities—as voters. Citizens need confidence in their access to voting and confidence that their votes count. It is an urgent public education need.
One key area for citizen education in the coming months is mail-in or absentee voting. This is a relatively new feature for many voters, who are accustomed to showing up at the voting booth on election day. However, that is increasingly a problem for many voters, partly because of the pandemic. However, there are other factors--work schedules and other limits on travel, for instance—that have made mail-in balloting an important new way to ensure that most citizens have the practical ability to exercise their voting rights. Meanwhile, opponents keep raising fraudulent concerns about the security of mail-in voting. What we need is better public information about the dependability of mail-in balloting.
Many will be surprised that all 50 states already provide mail-in voting as an option for citizens. Ballotpedia reports that all 50 states offer a form of mail-in voting. The Ballotpedia website notes that thirty-four states provide mail-in ballots to any voter who requests one (of these, seven automatically send a ballot to all voters). The other sixteen states also support mail-in ballots, but require that voters first submit an application and, in some cases, meet eligibility criteria. In-person voting continues to dominate in both environments.
The Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit center at New York University’s School of Justice, has issued a primer on the security of mail-in voting. It notes,
“Some critics, most notably President Trump, have claimed that mail ballot systems are unusually vulnerable to ‘voter fraud.’ But years of mail voting around the country show this is false and that there is little malfeasance.”
In short, mail-in voting is not an aberration on the fringe of the elections system. It is increasingly mainstream means of providing better access for citizens to fulfill their civic responsibility.
I have been concerned for years about the lack of effective civics education in our high schools. This is an example of the lack of broad public education. What we need, in order to quell the partisan campaigns against this and other means of encouraging voter participation, is a voter education program to help people better understand mail-in voting as part of the Constitutional process of empowering citizens to vote, to feel confident about voting in spite of negative partisan publicity, and to promote best practices in individual states. That education should be part of the high school curriculum. Meanwhile, the Brennen Center primer suggests that there is already a wealth of information could be the basis for a public information campaign to help current voters better understand the system in their states. A public education campaign along these lines would be a welcome project for groups like the League of Women Voters, the ACLU, etc.
Simply stated, voters need to be confident that they understand this emerging environment and that they trust in its security. This will help avoid the kind of fraudulent criticisms that arose in 2020 and the lies that led to the January 6 insurrection.
