Election Day — Not the Usual Hype
Gearing up for Election Day is anything but business as usual this year. Due to the pandemic people will be voting by mail in record numbers, there may be lower turn out at voting places, and there is still confusion over voting options. One of the challenges we face with 50, somewhat autonomous states is the lack of a centralized process for administering the election and counting votes. Each state has its own rules.
Distrust in the Process of Counting Votes
Even before the coronavirus blanketed the election in logistical challenges and suppression of voters of color, Americans worried about disinformation, and fraud, and suppression. Last January, Pam Fessler from NPR created a poll that is hauntingly still relevant. It revealed that much of the concern stems from the 2016 election and the role of the media in influencing the outcome. (Never mind the 2000 election dispute over the Florida recount.)
According to a Pew Research poll, the majority of Americans believe significant changes to the structure of our government are needed to keep up with current times. For now, we are dependent on state by state voting options to get us through Election Day.
Challenges to Voting By Mail
In addition to a typical year’s voting challenges, including: polling location hours, polling place closures, long lines, voter ID requirements, lack of language access, voter roll purges that disproportionately affect voters of color, flawed voting machines, provisional ballot requirements, reduced early voting, poorly trained poll workers, partisan state and local administrators, and a lack of small district elections, we are faced with public health and safety concerns stemming from holding an election during the pandemic.
The safest way to vote is by mail. But the ease and security of voting by mail differs on a state by state basis.
According to the Pew Research Center, only 31% of Biden supporters who live in states where excuses are required to vote absentee (and where concern about COVID-19 is not an accepted excuse) expect it will be easy to vote this November. Overall, the majority of Trump supporters have confidence in the ease of voting in this election.
The National Conference of State Legislatures has compiled a chart of state by state absentee and mail-in voting policies for the 2020 election indicating when ballot processing begins. Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington will all begin processing ballots upon receipt while Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming will wait to start counting mail-in ballots until Election Day. Other states plan to start counting votes ranging from 29 days before to the night before the election.
The Pennsylvania state supreme court issued a ruling which extends the ballot receipt deadline to allow ballots postmarked by Election Day to be received and counted up until November 6th.
States that choose to wait will create significant delays in millions of votes being counted. The New York Times analysis estimates there will be roughly 80 million mail-in ballots country wide.
In the Name of Democracy
Regardless of party lines, it is in our democracy’s best interest to ensure all votes are counted before a new administration is announced. Fundamental to democracy is the assurance that every vote counts.
Role of the Media
In 2020 we rely heavily on broadcasting, publishing, and increasingly the internet for what we hope is reliable news, not only as it relates to the election but for all of our information. It’s hard to resist election day coverage building up to the final champion. However, this isn’t the Emmys or Oscars. We tread into dangerous territory by glamorizing the night of the election over the meticulous counting of votes. The media should respond responsibly with interviews from a wide range of voters, a focus on voter turnout, what polling places are doing to manage social distancing, how mail-in ballots are being sorted and counted, and avoid making trajectories about results until all votes are in, which means at least three days after the election.
It will be a slow unfolding of results, as absentee ballots role in, postmarked on or before November 3rd. This will not be the momentous Where were you the night your candidate was elected? but with patience, it just might restore faith in our electoral process.
