A public service message on voting by mail or absentee. Rules vary by state.
If you are reading this, you are unlikely to change your mind about 2020 candidates at the 11th hour. Bone up now. Do not forget to vote the down-ballot races and judges (if you elect those). People elected to legislatures this year (in most states) will draw new districts in 2021. Do not wait to vote.
If you live in one of the handful of vote-by-mail states, return your ballot as soon as practicable. By mail or by drop-box. Ballots in those states go out in as few as 18 days ahead of the election. (They tend not to be swing states.)
If you plan to vote by absentee ballot this year, do the same. States mail out absentee ballots anywhere from three weeks to 60 days (North Carolina) ahead of Election Day (see NCSL Table 7). Neither wait to request an absentee ballot until the 11th hour nor wait to return it.
Many voters will be voting by absentee ballot for the first time ever. Follow directions scrupulously. Look at the signature on your driver’s license and be sure when you sign your ballot envelope your signature varies little. (Practice, maybe.) Elections boards use signature matches to verify you are you.
Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) 2016 Report:
The most common reasons for rejection in 2016 were missing the deadline, the signature on the ballot not matching the signature on the state’s records, and the ballot not having a signature. Some of the categories include several reasons for ballot rejection. For example, the category “problem with return envelope” covers reasons such as the envelope was returned but was missing the ballot or multiple ballots were returned in one envelope.
Carefully weigh the potential risks of standing in line for hours at the polls among anti-maskers carrying coronavirus vs. the risks of having your absentee ballot rejected for technical reasons (see above). Those reasons, too, will vary by state. The average rejection rate for absentee ballots nationwide in 2016 was 1% (and 2.3% of those transmitted to voters in North Carolina). The highest rejection rates in 2016 were in Arkansas, Georgia, and Kentucky (over 5%; EAVS pgs. 23-25). With the expected flood of absentee ballots this year, expect that average to be somewhat higher. Read the instructions and execute them with care.
Since the acting president is actively trying to sabotage the U.S. Postal Service in advance of the election, waiting to send in your ballot adds to the risk it will not arrive in time to be counted. A few ballots postmarked in my county as much as 10 days ahead of the March primary return deadline (5 p.m. March 6) arrived too late to count. A few others arriving in time but with no postmark could not be counted. The percent was very small (under 1% of ballots cast), but you don’t want your vote to fall into that percent. Mail your ballot early (instructions will likely tell you how much postage is required) or, better yet, drop off your absentee ballot in person at your local Board office, at a drop box (if your state provides those), or at an early voting site (if permitted). Review and follow ballot return rules for your state (see NCSL Table 10).
Plus, the earlier your local Board receives your ballots ahead of the election, the easier time they will have processing them and managing the inflow. You DO NOT WANT them to have to process a flood of last-minute absentees on or after Election Day. Delays in certifying the election give Trump more time to pimp his theory that mailed ballots were “rigged” somehow against him.
Elections for president must be certified in time for the constitutionally mandated meetings of state electors in December. In North Carolina, a certification delay into December could (state law) throw the decision of how the state casts its electoral votes to the GOP-led legislature. Let’s not do that.
(I’m most familiar with my own state. I’m open to hearing about little-known quirks in yours. I will likely revise and repost this closer to the election.)
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For The Win, 3rd Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV mechanics guide at ForTheWin.us. This is what winning looks like.
Note: The pandemic will upend standard field tactics in 2020. If enough promising “improvisations” come my way, perhaps I can issue a COVID-19 supplement.