EMBRACE "ALL-MAIL VOTING," BUT PEOPLE CAN STILL
VOTE IN PERSON TOO! LIMIT "BALLOT HARVESTING"
There is no out-of-control voter fraud. Read more here
We must encourage states to move to “all-mail voting,” where every registered voter gets sent a ballot via mail to their home address (as opposed to requiring that voters request an absentee ballot before the election). The voter can then: 1) mail the ballot back, 2) drop it in a secure collection box, or 3) take it to a vote center, or their polling place. All ballots should be received by the time the polls close on Election Day (not just postmarked by that day).
Colorado has already implemented a similar system. A group of political scientists found that "Colorado’s all-mail voting policy increased turnout both overall and across all major demographic groups. Colorado’s experience demonstrates that all-mail voting is not only safer than in-person voting but also better for democratic representation, with all age, income, race, occupational, and education groups benefiting from its introduction." Read the entire paper here.
States should limit “ballot harvesting” (i.e. limit the number of ballots that can be collected by private individuals). Colorado allows one person to collect no more than 10 ballots, which seems perfectly reasonable. Additionally, absentee voters should be notified as soon as possible if their ballots are being rejected for any reason and be given time to fix the problem.
Evidence:
Adam Bonica, Jacob Grumbach, Charlotte Hill and Hakeem Jefferson. "All-Mail Voting in Colorado Increases Turnout and Reduces Turnout Inequality." 4 May
2020
Daniel M. Thompson, Jennifer Wu, Jesse Yoder, and Andrew B. Hall. "Universal Vote-by-Mail Has No Impact on Partisan Turnout or Vote Share." Democracy &
Polarization Lab, Stanford University. 6 May 2020
Adam J. Berinsky, Nancy Burns, and Michael W. Traugott. "Who Votes by Mail?: A Dynamic Model of the Individual-Level Consequences of Voting-by-Mail
Systems." Public Opinion Quarterly, Volume 65, Issue 2, June 2001
Jeffrey A. Karp and Susan A. Banducci. "Going Postal: How All-Mail Elections Influence Turnout." Political Behavior. September 2000
Not that this should matter, but those concerned that vote-by-mail benefits one party over another can rest easy. A study conducted by Stanford University confirmed "important conventional wisdom among election experts: vote-by-mail offers voters considerable convenience, increases turnout rates modestly, but has no discernible effect on party vote shares or the partisan share of the electorate." Read the entire paper here. This conclusion has been backed-up by studies for over two decades.