Voting by mail in the spotlight as U.S. Congress debates how to secure
November elections
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[April 18, 2020]
By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress is
scrambling for ways to safeguard the Nov. 3 U.S. elections amid the
coronavirus pandemic, with a partisan fight shaping up over a Democratic
proposal to require states to offer the option of voting by mail.
President Donald Trump, seeking re-election this year, and some of his
fellow Republicans have voiced opposition to expanded voting by mail,
citing concern over ballot fraud - a worry that Democrats dispute.
Democrats have said election procedures will need to change this year
because many voters will be reluctant to stand in long lines or enter
crowded polling sites for fear of infection. In recent years, Democrats
also have accused Republicans of pursuing policies in some states to
make voting more difficult in a bid to disenfranchise Democratic-leaning
voters.
Congressional Democrats are pushing for additional funding for election
aid to states in the next round of coronavirus-response legislation
expected to be crafted by lawmakers in the coming weeks.
Democrats control the House of Representatives while Republicans control
the Senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has proposed seeking $2 billion
to $4 billion in fresh election-related aid to states. Republicans have
said they are open to considering some additional emergency funding if
the $400 million in such aid approved in legislation passed on March 27
proves inadequate.
The focus of Democrats is on providing money so states can establish or
expand existing "vote-by-mail" options under legislation requiring them
to offer the option of mail-in ballots as an alternative to voting in
person.
Wisconsin's April 7 Democratic presidential primary was marred by
numerous polling sites being closed due to staffing shortages caused by
the pandemic while long lines of voters dressed in makeshift protective
gear waited for hours to cast ballots. The state carried out the
election after Republican legislators successfully sued to block the
Democratic governor's plan to postpone the voting for public health
reasons.
'MAKE THE ELECTIONS SAFE'
Democratic U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, spearheading the vote-by-mail
effort along with House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren,
also a Democrat, dismissed Republican charges that they are trying to
run the 50 states' elections from Washington.
"We're trying to make the elections safe, that's all we're doing,"
Klobuchar said in a telephone interview, referring to the pandemic.
There has been a "sea change," Klobuchar said, in attitudes outside of
Washington toward voting by mail. Klobuchar noted that Republican
Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire has announced mail-in voting in
his state in November if coronavirus remains a threat.
Klobuchar ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination
and is considered a potential vice presidential running mate for the
party's presumptive nominee Joe Biden.
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Patrick Kapple, right, waits in line outside Riverside University
High School to cast a ballot during the presidential primary
election held amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. April 7, 2020. REUTERS/Daniel Acker/File
Photo
Any election mandate from Washington sparks controversy in an
American democracy in which a patchwork of state voting procedures
are the hallmark of elections.
"You can't use a crisis like this ... to push the nationalization of
elections," said Representative Rodney Davis, the senior Republican
on the House Administration Committee, which oversees federal aid to
states on election security.
"What may work in an urban area may not work in an rural area,"
Davis said in a telephone interview.
Most states have varying degrees of partial mail-in ballots. Five
states - Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington state - send
every voter a vote-at-home ballot.
Trump during an April 7 coronavirus briefing said that "mail ballots
are a very dangerous thing for this country." He acknowledged he
cast an absentee ballot by mail last month in Florida's Republican
primary.
"Now, mail ballots - they cheat. Okay? People cheat," Trump said.
"They're fraudulent in many cases," Trump added, without offering
evidence.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll this month found that 72% of U.S. adults,
including 79% of Democrats and 65% of Republicans, supported a
requirement for mail-in ballots as a way to protect voters in case
of a continued spread of the coronavirus.
Democrats have said experience shows that mail-in voting has not
generated significant fraud and Republicans can fare as well as
Democrats in such elections.
The Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank,
estimated the cost for boosting vote-by-mail capabilities at $1.5
billion. The nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice at New York
University Law School estimated it at closer to $2 billion.
In the 2016 presidential election, around 130 million votes were
cast. Turnout this year could exceed that, according to some
forecasts. In addition to the presidential race, a third of U.S.
Senate seats and all of the House seats are up for grabs, along with
various state and local contests.
A national expansion of voting by mail would require states to
procure millions of mail-in ballots and machinery to handle the
returned ballots, pay for postage and train workers in just a few
months, a House Democratic aide said.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Will
Dunham)
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