On the first night of the Republican National Convention, CNN cut away from President Trump’s acceeptance speech because, as anchor Anderson Cooper arrogantly explained, Trump “started off falsely attacking mail-in voting.” CNN didn’t explain why Trump’s criticisms of mail-in voting were supposedly “false” or who gave CNN the right to censor the President’s remarks. It’s not like conservatives are the only ones concerned about mail-in voting. Even NPR and the Washington Post report on the hazards of delivering ballots by mail. Anyone can see the obvious potential for fraud when voters do not appear in person. Piled on top of this truth is the sad fact that the normal error rate of the United States Postal Service is just too great for a presidential election.
In the 2020 primaries, millions voted by mail for the vert first time. In that experiment, America saw how badly the system failed in its mission to deliver ballots in time to be counted. NPR reported that at least 550,000 mail-in votes were rejected by election officials in 30 states. When those half-million votes are missed in key states, it could very easily sway a close presidential election.
In crucial states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, some 60,000 mail-in ballots were rejected in this year’s primary elections. Trump won those states by only 80,000 votes combined in 2016.
The problems of mail-in voting easily put a full upset of the presidential election within striking distance for Democrats, or Republicans for that matter. Why would we risk the integrity of our republic on the gamble of mail-in voting? If voters have no problem going to Home Depot and Walmart, why would they have a problem going to the polls?
Without a doubt, we need to make some changes this year. If poll workers want to wear masks and frequently clean polling stations, they have my full support. However, trusting the presidency to the U.S. Postal Service is a risk I’m unwilling to endorse.
