As mail voting pushed, some fear loss of in-person option
Scrambling to address voting concerns during a pandemic, election officials across the country are eliminating polling places or scaling back opportunities for people to cast ballots in person — a move raising concerns among voting rights groups and some Democrats who say some voters could be disenfranchised.
In Nevada, election officials will open only one polling place per county for its June primary. In Florida, county officials warn they may have to consolidate polling places across the state. In Ohio’s primary next week, only the disabled and the homeless will be allowed to vote in person.
The closures come as many state officials are encouraging voters to vote by mail — and expanding opportunities to do so. Many election officials and health experts see mail-in and absentee voting as the best way to keep voters from spreading the coronavirus and to address a shortage of poll workers who are able to work without risking their health.
But advocates say some states are moving so quickly to embrace the shift to mail that they are not doing enough to accommodate certain voters, including the disabled, people who lack regular mail service, groups with little history of absentee voting or those who are simply unable to keep up with last-minute election changes and mailin deadlines.
“Not everyone can or should
ATLANTA —
a storm early Monday, causing a fire that killed one person. News outlets identified the victim as an elderly woman and reported that vote by mail,” said Stacey Abrams, a former Democratic candidate for Georgia governor who now runs Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group.
The concerns over polling places largely have been overlooked in the fight over voting rights, which has so far centered on partisan disputes over mail-in and absentee voting.
Democrats and voting rights groups have filed lawsuits seeking to expand mail and absentee voting options and pushed for an extra $2 billion to help states adjust their election systems. National Republicans are fighting those efforts, while President Donald Trump claims without evidence that mail-in voting is vulnerable to fraud.
But the challenge of securing in-person voting may prove just as contentious and just as likely to curb voter participation in the upcoming primaries, which are largely viewed as a dry run for November. In the chaotic recent Wisconsin election, where voters waited for hours to cast ballots, one expert estimated that the closure of polling sites in Milwaukee and other cities may have kept as many as 100,000 people from casting ballots.
Last week, Democrats sued Nevada’s top election official, a Republican, for limiting each county to a single polling location during the state’s June 9 primary, alleging that will channel 87% of the state’s voters into only two locations. Democrats, who count on big turnout at the polls in the populous county that contains Las Vegas, sought
state fire investigators would determine a cause.
The deaths came as firefighters worked through storms to changes to make mail voting simpler in a state where the overwhelming majority normally vote in person.
A conflict is also brewing in swing state Florida, where the nonpartisan county election coordinators have asked Republican Gov. Ron Desantis to loosen rules on early voting and allow consolidation of precinct polling stations for elections in August and November.
Democrats fear polling places may close in Palm Beach and Broward counties, two dense areas that are their bases.
But the rush to eliminate in-person voting can be bipartisan. Democrats’ partyrun primary in Wyoming was conducted exclusively by mail, as was its one in Alaska. Party officials said they took steps like allowing same-day registration that help compensate for lack of in-person options. Kansas Democrats agreed to eliminate polling places for their May primary. Party chairwoman Vicki Hiatt said in-person voting sites were “going to be too risky.”
Ohio, Hawaii, Idaho and New Jersey are also sharply limiting or abolishing inperson voting .
Advocates acknowledge election officials are in a difficult position and support an increase in vote by mail for those who want it. But in-person voting, they say, provides an important “failsafe” in the event of errors or mail delivery issues.
According to a report from the liberal Center for American Progress and the NAACP, African-americans are particularly
contain a blaze at the main music building at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Authorities haven’t determined the cause reliant on in-person voting. In 2018, only 11% cast a ballot by mail — less than half the rate of whites and Latinos.
“There are going to be people who are going to be disenfranchised by moving entirely to a vote-by-mail system,” warned Center for American Progress’ Danielle Root.
Ohio’s April 28 primary eliminates in-person voting for all but those with disabilities or those without a home address. Anyone who fails to request an absentee ballot before the deadline or whose absentee ballot doesn’t arrive in time would not be able to vote in person.
In this March 17 file photo, voters walk into a polling station for the Florida presidential primary in Bonita Springs, Fla. Scrambling to address voting concerns amid a pandemic, election officials from Nevada to Florida are scaling back or eliminating opportunities for people to cast ballots in person.