Yesterday US President Donald Trump said he was so concerned about “Universal Mail-In Voting” that he suggested delaying the November election.
“It will be a great embarrassment to the USA,” Trump said.
Loading
It’s not the first time he’s attacked mail voting. He told Fox News recently that it would “rig the election” and that he might not accept the result of the election because of it.
But with record daily cases and a second wave apparently yet to reach its peak, the reality is setting in that COVID-19 won’t go away before November. Experts say without mail voting, Americans will be putting their lives at risk to cast a ballot.
So is there any truth to the claims that mail voting will “rig the election”? And is America ready to vote in the middle of a pandemic?
The answer differs state to state
We’ll get back to those rigging claims, but let’s start with the US’s pandemic preparedness.
America’s electoral system is decentralised by design, with each state responsible for its own rules.
On the one hand, it makes it hard to hack or change the results of a presidential election when there are 50 different electoral systems administered in 50 different states.
On the other, it makes it hard to introduce catch-all measures to change those systems quickly.
A report prepared by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice says only five states meet every condition it says are necessary to hold an election during a pandemic.
And while some states are moving to change that, the push hasn’t been universally successful.
In Texas, the state Supreme Court ruled a lack of immunity from COVID-19 wasn’t a valid excuse to be able to vote by mail.
The Federal Supreme Court blocked Wisconsin’s request to extend a mail-in ballot deadline back in April.
And six states have signalled they won’t allow coronavirus concerns to stand as a valid reason to be granted a mail-in ballot at all.
Change won’t be easy. Or cheap
The Brennan Center report