From Our September Issue
As the 2020 elections are approaching, it seems like questions are arising and there hasn’t been much answers. The two party foundation of the nation has led to opposing views in almost anything. One proposal that has been caught in the middle of these controversies has been the issues surrounding voting-by-mail.
Usually when four years pass and it is time to vote again, the only question in a voter’s mind is to choose from a candidate or the other. However, as we are facing a pandemic this year, many more questions keep popping up. One of these questions has been how people are going to vote.
In only 28 states, including the state of Florida, the option of open vote by mail exists, meaning anyone can register to vote through USPS. The other 17 states give the option to vote by mail but only for specified causes, illnesses being the most common. Finally, only five states have the all-mail policy, meaning all voters in said states receive a ballot through the mail.
During this pandemic, people have come to the conclusion that it would be more convenient to vote by mail in order to stay at home. On the other hand, others believe that regardless of the convenience it may provide there is a chance for error and this could affect the results of the election.
“I think voting by mail is a great option for voting, especially during the time of COVID. After everything I got diagnosed with COVID a few months ago; I know that it’s something that’s needed,”said Angie Nixon, Florida state representative for District-14.
“But I also think some of the supervisors of election offices should take it a step further and allow for the ballots to be dropped off at the voting sites and have drop-boxes located outside of some of the election offices,”she continued.
Drop-boxes are one of the safest ways of voting by mail. The Supervisors of Elections have said that said boxes are always being watched over by people who record how many people drop a ballot.
They have stated it is not just something you could drop anything into. After election day, they are taken to a safe room where it is made sure the same amount of ballots that went in go out.
“I hope that the US Post Office is able to deliver all of the mail on time, but it’s just really important to ensure that voters know they can request their votes by mail ballot early and turn them in no later than seven days before the election. And if they still have it after the seven days I would suggest voters take their ballots and drop them off at the supervisors of elections’ [drop] boxes,” said Nixon.
However, there is backlash to this voting process. Major backlash has come from the president who has repeatedly stated that this will cause some votes not to be counted and for the election to be inaccurate. The president has also encouraged people not to vote via mail to make sure their vote really is counted.
“A lot of misinformation is going out there and it’s going around –– unfortunately by our president. So, it’s really important to combat that negative narrative about vote by mail because it’s false. I would push back and say voting by mail is a very safe option that voters should participate in and people have been participating in for years,” Nixon added.
Due to big groups of people choosing to vote by mail others have claimed it a necessity for the post service to carefully take all precautions needed in order for every vote to be counted.
“I believe a mandate for mailing is fraudulent since the US post office doesn’t have the capacity enough to move ballots before the deadline and also they can be lost in the mail… so unless you are going to be monitoring it, I do have a problem with having to mandate mail. If the person, however, can go in and check that their vote was counted, I am okay with that,” said Loisset Perez, a registered voter and Republican activist.
“There was one test done where a hundred ballots were mailed out and there were still five missing. The gentleman did not receive all of the ballots back,” she added.
Similarly, NBC News broadcasted a test on August 31. In this test, mail was sent all around the nation, some in-state and some out of state between different NBC agents. The mail was classified as first class, meaning it should arrive between 1-3 days.
However, only 88% of the mail arrived on time. After 5 days another 10% of the letters had arrived. This left them with two letters that even after 14 days had not yet arrived.
“I suggest and I highly recommend that the voter goes in to vote in person. There are many ways you can protect yourself by social distancing regarding this pandemic, you can go with a mask,” she continued.
Regardless of what people are saying, there has been little to no change in the fact that in Florida voting by mail is completely optional. It is up to voters to decide how they want to vote and whether they will even vote at all.
