Action | Action Making an Illegible or Missing Postmark an Immaterial Omission on Absentee Ballot Envelopes |
Stage | Proposed |
Comment Period | Ended on 10/2/2020 |
The only way to ensure the common sense requirement that ballots be completed by the end of election day is to also require a postmark no later than election day. Anyone that can't place their ballot in a mailbox by the day before or drive to the post office on election day if they have decided to wait until then to cast their ballot isn't very serious about voting. Given that election results should be available to us all in a reasonable time, the requirement to receive them within three days after election day also seems appropriate. Eliminating these more than reasonable requirements, without providing any basis for the change, will significantly reduce confidence in the election results in tight contests such as the ones we expect this year and the potential for fraud will not be limited to one party.
If you want to promote absentee balloting for Covid or other reasons - make and advertise arrangements to count the absentee ballots as they come in so that most of the votes are included in the tallies on election night.