Will Mail-In Ballots Compromise the Integrity of the Election? By Rylee Munier

     The Covid-19 pandemic has brought yet another issue to the surface. How will people vote in the upcoming election? It has been said by BPC elections experts that as many as 70% of all ballots cast in the November election will be by mail. The purpose of mail-in votes is to limit the number of people going to the voting booths to cast their vote and avoid the spread of the virus. Is it really worth compromising the election over?

    As of 2016, there were 250,056,000 people of voting age in the United States. That year, only 138,847,000 cast their vote. That is only 55.5% of the voting population that voted. Those numbers were all with people going to the voting booths. There are many complications with mail-in votes. Thousands of mail-in votes rejected for late arrival. Some Americans also forget signatures on the documents or other important parts. Only 18 states notify the voter when their is a missing signature or other missing information. 31 states conduct signature varifications. 6 states do not. The other states just do not count their vote. Mail-in ballots are the most vulnerable to be stolen, altered or forged. They also have a higher rejection rate than in person voting. 1 in 5 ballots can be rejected for not having matching signatures. This could lead to an inaccurate and fraudulent election.

    There is also the problem of mail-in ballots being miscarried or not delivered by the postal service. Wisconsin and Maryland have reported voters not receiving their ballots or not getting them in time to be voted and returned. The Postal Service also doesn't correctly stamp some ballots, causing them to be not sent in and counted. The US Election Assistance Commission reported that in the last 4 federal elections, 2.7 million mail-in ballots were delivered and 1.3 million were rejected by election officials.

    Will the postal service be able to handle all those ballots? In 2016 over 130,000,000 Americans voted. From a practical standpoint, how will the postal service be able to handle over 260,000,000 additional ballots. The documents have to be mailed in by election officials and then mailed back by the voters. That is going to be way to much for the postal services to handle. 

    When all the votes are mailed in, it is going to take even longer than normal years to count the votes. If the next US President is not determined by January 20, the Speaker of the House becomes President until the next president is determined. The position should not just be passed on for that period of time to someone else, especially when there is a faster method of doing so.

    In my opinion, the cons of mail-in ballots far outweigh the pros. Americans should have the option of going to the voting booths to cast their vote, or mail-in their ballot. If certain people are scared to go to the booths because of the virus and do not want to risk getting or spreading it, then they have the option. You would still have to wear a mask when you go, so it will limit the spread. There are too many risk factors involved with mail-in ballots that can alter the integrity of the election.