Make vote by mail election standard

Forget the conspiracy claims of fraud being peddled by sore loser President Trump and his adherents. Vote by mail worked very, very well this past election. There were few glitches, no reports of virus super spreading and no disruptions or undue drama.

To show how baseless fraud allegations are, Republicans actually did better than expected in California voting, picking up some congressional seats and defeating several ballot measures heavily backed by Democrats.

Vote by mail was such a success that state legislators should make voting by mail a permanent option in California, even without a pandemic to contend with.

For the Nov. 3 election, Santa Cruz County had record registration. County Elections head Gail Pellerin recently reported that slightly more than 200 ballots were submitted with signatures not comparing and 146 with no signature – and all of these voters were sent a verification form with a postage-paid return envelope. The overall turnout in the county was about 84% of 170,514 registered voters; 78% of the registered voters voted by mail; only 7% voted in person. State turnout was about 80%, with about 85% of the votes cast by mail.

Vote by mail got a jumpstart four years ago — with no pandemic looming – when the Legislature passed the Voter’s Choice Act, launching a pilot project of select counties in 2018 and allowing any county, starting in 2020, to send a ballot to every voter. Voters could choose to mail in their ballots, place them in a drop box, or vote in person. Countywide vote centers — one for every 10% of registered voters in larger counties — replaced neighborhood polling places.

The bill was intended to increase voter turnout by making voting more convenient.

In 2018, five counties went with the new model. This year, 10 more counties joined up.

But when the pandemic disrupted just about every aspect of everyday life, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order that every voter in the state be sent a mail ballot. The Legislature ensured that all voters were mailed a ballot on Oct. 5 that gave them an option of casting their vote by mail. These actions gave other counties such as ours the option to consolidate polling places on the theory that fewer polling places would help stop the spread of the virus.

California already had plenty of experience with mail voting in past elections. It helps that California voting registrars are able to start processing mail ballots when they arrive, although they are not able to tally the votes. But allowing ballots to be processed allowed most counties in the state to start issuing substantial vote tallies soon after polls closed. In some other states, such as Pennsylvania, mail ballots can’t be processed until election day and vote counts are delayed interminably.

Newsom, joined by key state legislators and elections officials, say they support making this year’s mail-in balloting system permanent in California.

There remain some funding questions about helping struggling counties pay for mailing ballots and in-person vote centers, and some counties reported confusion over last minute ballots and how to drop them off to ensure they were counted. But, based on turnout numbers, voters seem to like the option of casting votes by mail. Some reported the convenience and benefits of being able to research information on candidates and confusing and complex ballot measures at home while putting together their ballot choices. Another 2020 feature that seemed to work nicely was a tracking system that allowed millions of Californians who signed up to receive text messages, emails, or phone calls informing them their ballot had been received and would be counted.

Santa Cruz County had been considering going to vote by mail by 2022; obviously, the pandemic moved this up. Now, California should make it official for future elections: Every active registered voter should get a mail ballot.

It makes voting much easier. Participation is much greater. And there are plenty of protections against fraud.