Mail In Voting Situation

by Brian Dugas

There’s a lot going on in the world, but I figured I’d provide you an update on the current situation with mail in voting across the country. Until I started doing some research for this Social Action Minute, I wasn’t sure what was happening, but it’s important for us to stay informed so we can make the right choices.

In March of this year the President issued an Executive Order with new mail in voting guidance, and directed the USPS to create new rules:

• Requiring states to give USPS a list of all voters eligible to receive a ballot in the mail.
  
• Requiring USPS to use those lists to determine which ballots get sent to voters.
  
• USPS is tasked with drafting details on how the system would work including a portal for states to upload the voters information and backend software to track and potentially block ballots.
  

Of course this started a flurry of lawsuits challenging this Executive Order, and a federal court temporarily blocked the requirements of the states but it is expected to go to the Supreme Court before the November elections.

A whistleblower has come forward and reported that the USPS has continued to plan for the Executive Order in spite of the court order, and that the planning is rushed and sloppy, which is particularly dangerous because of the directive to reject an entire batch if they include just one unverifiable ballot.

“As presently designed, if even one bar code on one single ballot in a bulk mailing of 10,000 ballots fails to properly scan during the verification process, the entire batch is rejected and sent back to the state.”

Meanwhile in Pennsylvania:

• PA has refused to hand over confidential or unredacted identifying voter data. 
  
• PA Supreme Court has ruled that ballot voters are entitled to be notified if they make a disqualifying mistake on their ballot so they can vote provisional.

What you can do:

• Use the pa state gov website to check your voter registration status and to track your mail in ballot: www.pavoterservices.pa.gov.
  
• Contact your county voter registration Director Emily Cook at 570-825-1715 if there are questions or problems.
• If you are a mail in voter, have another plan in place just in case: there are drop boxes, you have a right to request a provisional ballot if there is a problem with your mail in ballot.
• Get out and Vote, and help others make their plans if you know there might be a problem.