So, Why Not Mail-In Voting?
May 1, 2020
While Nancy Pelosi and Michelle Obama are suggesting mail-in voting for the presidential election for public health reasons due to the coronavirus pandemic, others are suggesting this is a very bad idea, indeed.
Tony Perkins, head of Family Research Council, notes that data from the Federal Election Assistance Commission shows that 28.3 million mail-in ballots vanished without a trace between 2012 and 2018, and no one really knows how or why. It could be fraud, system failure, or ineptitude, but regardless, at least 7 million votes in four elections cannot be accounted for. That’s nearly 1 in 5 votes gone missing!
But even these astronomical numbers don’t account for underreporting from major cities like Chicago or ballots that were "spoiled, undeliverable, or came back for any reason." So the numbers could be even larger than we know.
Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who worked as an election official for two decades, is concerned with mail-in voting for two reasons: first because “adjusting from whatever system you have to a system with big changes is hard to do. It's hard to do in any election, [but] it's particularly hard to do in a presidential election.” Second, he says, “I have concerns if you don't have real safeguards on who gets to cast that ballot, and who actually receives the ballot, and who collects the ballot.”
Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) recently proposed the Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act of 2020, which would allow eligible voters to vote by mail, regardless of state laws governing mail-in ballots. While it might sound good as a way to avoid the risk of an in-person COVID-19 infection, the risk of fraud is great. And that could mean a total breakdown of our election process.
Says Hans von Spakovsky of The Heritage Foundation, “These are the only kind of ballots that are being voted out of sight and out from under the supervision of election officials.”
Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act (NDEBA) of 2020
wyden.senate.gov
28 Million Mail-In Ballots Went Missing in Last Four Elections
Real Clear Politics
28 Million Reasons Not to Trust a Mail-in Election
Family Research Council
The Left Is Calling for Mail-In Voting. Here’s Why It’s a Bad Idea.
Daily Signal
Michelle Obama announces new vote-by-mail push
The Guardian
NOTE: FACT provides links to external websites for educational purposes only. The inclusion of any links to other websites does not necessarily constitute an endorsement.
Tony Perkins, head of Family Research Council, notes that data from the Federal Election Assistance Commission shows that 28.3 million mail-in ballots vanished without a trace between 2012 and 2018, and no one really knows how or why. It could be fraud, system failure, or ineptitude, but regardless, at least 7 million votes in four elections cannot be accounted for. That’s nearly 1 in 5 votes gone missing!
But even these astronomical numbers don’t account for underreporting from major cities like Chicago or ballots that were "spoiled, undeliverable, or came back for any reason." So the numbers could be even larger than we know.
Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who worked as an election official for two decades, is concerned with mail-in voting for two reasons: first because “adjusting from whatever system you have to a system with big changes is hard to do. It's hard to do in any election, [but] it's particularly hard to do in a presidential election.” Second, he says, “I have concerns if you don't have real safeguards on who gets to cast that ballot, and who actually receives the ballot, and who collects the ballot.”
Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) recently proposed the Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act of 2020, which would allow eligible voters to vote by mail, regardless of state laws governing mail-in ballots. While it might sound good as a way to avoid the risk of an in-person COVID-19 infection, the risk of fraud is great. And that could mean a total breakdown of our election process.
Says Hans von Spakovsky of The Heritage Foundation, “These are the only kind of ballots that are being voted out of sight and out from under the supervision of election officials.”
News Sources
Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act (NDEBA) of 2020wyden.senate.gov
28 Million Mail-In Ballots Went Missing in Last Four Elections
Real Clear Politics
28 Million Reasons Not to Trust a Mail-in Election
Family Research Council
The Left Is Calling for Mail-In Voting. Here’s Why It’s a Bad Idea.
Daily Signal
Michelle Obama announces new vote-by-mail push
The Guardian
NOTE: FACT provides links to external websites for educational purposes only. The inclusion of any links to other websites does not necessarily constitute an endorsement.
