To use just one example, according to Suraj Patel, New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney's Democratic primary challenger, as of mid-July, nearly 99% of absentee ballots have yet to be counted in New York's 12th District. In some portions of the district, he says, between 20% and 30% of ballots have been permanently discarded, likely because they were dropped off on Election Day but not postmarked until the day after.
New York is not alone in struggling to run an election during a pandemic. Primaries nationwide have been plagued by legal battles, long lines at in-person voting sites and confusion surrounding the switch to mail. If these problems aren't resolved before November, it's easy to see how contests throughout the country -- not to mention the presidential race itself -- could be plunged into chaos.
But it's not too late to protect the integrity of the 2020 election while making it safe for every eligible American to vote. There are simple steps states and counties can take that would dramatically reduce the possibility of disaster at the ballot box or mailbox this year.
First, states must set clear ground rules as early as possible. Because the impacts of coronavirus weren't really felt in America until March, many officials had little time to make decisions about how to run the primary election process, leading to fear and confusion among the electorate. But when it comes to the general election, we have more time to prepare.
Who automatically gets sent an absentee ballot? How many polling places remain open? When is the deadline for ballots to be sent or received? With the coronavirus still raging across the country, these kinds of questions must be decided decisively and quickly enough that any legal challenges to new rules can work their way through the courts.
Second, when adapting to the virus, states should err on the side of making it easier, not harder, to vote. Contrary to President Donald Trump's evidence-free tweets, there's no indication that mail-in voting will lead to large-scale election fraud. Five states already conducted their elections entirely by mail before the pandemic hit, and the President himself voted by mail in 2018. But there is clear evidence that confusion over mail-in balloting, coupled with overly strict rules about which ballots do and do not count, can discourage voting and invalidate eligible citizens' ballots.
To prevent this, states should mail all registered voters not only an absentee ballot, but clear instructions for how to use it. Upon receiving those ballots, states should apply the election equivalent of "innocent until proven guilty." Rather than assume ballots with small errors are fraudulent and shouldn't be counted, they should assume they're valid and should be counted. In practice, this means making an aggressive effort to contact voters whose ballots are in danger of being thrown out for minor errors and giving them ample time to correct any irregularities.
Of course, such an outreach effort will require a great deal
