Elections in an Era of Voting by Mail

July 19, 2020 (EIRNS)—The case of Paterson, New Jersey, where 19% of the ballots in its entirely vote-by-mail election for the city council were invalidated, is not unique. In that case, over 800 ballots were set aside by the county election board to possibly turn over to law enforcement authorities because they allegedly were improperly bundled when mailed.

The July 17 New York Times finds itself having to cover the fact that three weeks after the New York primary election, numerous races remain undecided due to difficulties and delays in counting the mail-in ballots. In the 12th Congressional District, only 800 of the 65,000 absentee ballots have been counted. The Times reflects on the implications:

“The delays in New York’s primaries raise huge concerns about how the state will handle the general election in November, and may offer a cautionary note for other states as they weigh whether to embrace, and how to implement, a vote-by-mail system because of the pandemic.”