What is a mail-in ballot?
JOSEPH LEWIS:
Hello! There are many confusions with mail-in ballots. What is a mail-in ballot, exactly?
A mail-in ballot is the same as an absentee ballot. With COVID, a mail-in ballot is unique because voters can use a drop box.
34 states and DC will not require an excuse to request an mail-in ballot.
16 states only permit certain voters to request an absentee ballot by mail, based on an “excuse” of why that voter can’t make it to the polls on Election Day.
In Vermont, Nevada, DC, California, New Jersey, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington, a ballot is automatically mailed to every eligible voter (no request or application is necessary).
Polling places may also be available for voters who would like to vote in-person.
There are only five states, which are Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri and South Carolina, that as of now don’t have an in-person early voting period this fall.
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The specific days for early voting vary by state, so the best way to figure out when and where you can vote in person at an early voting site is to go to your county election website.
Drop box. This is a secure receptacle in which you can deliver your completed mail-in ballot. Drop boxes are a relatively recent development and were initiated by the states that started conducting their elections entirely by mail over the last 10 years. Once a completed ballot arrives at a local election office, the voter’s eligibility and identity must be verified. Sometimes, missing signatures or unsealed or damaged envelopes can gum up the process.
In Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, two states pivotal to the outcome of the presidential race between President Donald Trump and Vice President Joe Biden, there are legal fights underway that could affect when voters have to mail in their ballots. In Pennsylvania and Ohio, there are lawsuits about where voters might be able to drop off their ballots.
President Trump has repeated the unfounded claim that “universal mail voting” could corrupt the election. But top election officials said incidents of voter fraud are “very, very low.”
The Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee have had more money to spend on lawsuits because a change in campaign finance laws implemented into a spending bill in 2014 that allowed them to raise an extra $97,400 per donor for legal costs.
Regardless where you live, vote early. That’s because processing mail-in ballots is a complex, multi-step process in many states: Voter fills out application, mails it to local election office; local election office verifies voter’s eligibility, sends back ballot; voter completes ballot, signs envelope, returns it. Election office verifies the ballot's authenticity, counts it.
That’s all for now. I will see you next time.