The general election for the President of the United States occurs on November 3rd, 2020. Also on the ballot is every member of the House of Representatives, and one-third of U. S. Senators, as well as state and local races.
Elections, particularly during presidential years, are always intense and passionate, a referendum on the leadership of the country. This year, these political stakes are being further compounded with actual, institutional challenges:
Polling booths have been closed around the country, particularly in the south and urban centers—areas with a predominantly minority population.
Mail-in ballots, particularly important this year as people try to avoid crowds in response to the raging COVID-19 pandemic, are being falsely touted as unstable. And the USPS, responsible for delivering these ballots, is dealing with pre-existing funding woes and a drastic leadership change.
The President has even gone so far as to suggest moving the election date, claiming he will not accept the results of the election if he loses, and arguing that he should run for a third term.
Both the Covid-19 pandemic and efforts of disinformation have created a lot of confused and dismayed voters. So yeah, you’re not alone! This goal of this post is to address some of the misinformation surrounding this election, as well as provide official, nonpartisan resources to register to vote.
How common is voter fraud?
So first, before getting into the applicable specifications about registration and mail-in-ballots, let’s start with the most common (yet vaguest…) claim about U. S. elections: voter fraud.
For years, President Trump has promised a “major investigation into voter fraud”, claiming there are “millions” of people who are registered in two states, mail-in-ballots are fraudulent, voter impersonations of those who are dead. All of these are claims unfounded. In reality, voter fraud is extremely rare.
Even when using the White House’s own data (see the data, sponsored by the conservative Heritage Foundation here), there have been only 1,296 cases of voter fraud over the past decade. This translates to 129.6 votes, on average, every year. And several states have zero cases of voter fraud in the past decade (and beyond).
While any instance of voter fraud is unacceptable, this is a very small number—especially when spread out over 50 states (for comparison, 250,056,000 people voted in 2016). Furthermore, of the 1,296 cases, all but 117 of them ended in criminal convictions. In short, the system works.
In fact, the only recent case of wide-spread voter fraud was led by a GOP candidate for Congress in North Carolina in 2018. The candidate’s campaign manager stole absentee ballots from the mail boxes of minority neighborhoods and the election had to be re-done, and the candidate dropped out.
Okay, but what about mail-in-ballots?
Are mail-in and absentee ballots secure? Yes. There are several checks that election officials perform to prevent fraud. For one, there is immense record-keeping. They know how many people are in each district, how many registered voters there are, and how many people have registered for a mail-in-ballot. Receiving a number of ballots that are too high, or too low, is a red flag. In addition, they perform more stringent, randomized checks. For example, they often compare the signature on your Driver’s License to your ballot.
What’s the difference between absentee ballot and mail-in-ballot? Technically, an “absentee ballot” is for those who are absent from their voting location on Election Day. People like President Trump, for example, who is registered to vote in Florida, but lives in Washington, D. C. Overseas military ballots are also absentee. Vote-by-mail, however, is for people who are present in the district, but are merely voting by mail!
What is ballot harvesting though? It’s when people collect ballots, fill them out a certain way, and then turn them in. And it’s very rare. Yes, some states do allow for ballots to be returned by a different individual than the voter (like returning your grandmother’s ballot to the polling place), limitations on who can return ballots differ by state. And again, the only recent case of voter fraud and ballot harvesting was in NC-9, during the 2018 midterms.
But what if someone receives a mail-in ballot and want to vote in person? Or registered for one, and didn’t get it in time? If you receive a mail-in-ballot (or sign up to receive a mail-in-ballot but never receive one), you can likely vote in person, but it will depend on your state. You may cast a provisional ballot—which is just a ballot that election officials will look at more closely before counting it.
Cool, sounds secure. So can I vote by mail?
While every state offers an absentee ballot, not every state considers COVID-19 to be an acceptable reason to vote-by-mail. On the flip side, other states have recently changed their rules to expand use of mail-in-ballots. Some are even automatically sending mail-ballot applications to all registered voters.
Texas, Indiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi do not consider COVID-19 an excuse.
Below is a handy “map” from FiveThrityEight (another great, non-partisan data source). Again, there are intricate differences between state. Read on.
Map courtesy of FiveThrityEight. View the article here.
Okay, so how can I figure out if I’m registered to vote?
This seems like a seemingly simple question probably—if you’ve voted before, you’d assume you’re good to go for the next election? Unfortunately, not necessarily the case!
One, have you moved or changed your name in the past few years? If so, you will need to update your registration (don’t worry, it’s easy). Two, several states are “purging” their voter rolls, in an attempt to “prevent fraud” and “clean up” voter lists. While these claims are questionable, they give states the ability to remove you from the list of registered voters if you haven’t voted recently or they assume you have moved.
How to check if you’re registered to vote:
Vote.org, the nonpartisan voter registration website often linked on social media sites, is a fantastic resource to check your voter registration status and register to vote in your state. Vote.org is a 501(c)(3) organization, aka a non-profit (and it’s funded in large part by Y-Combinator, a seed-money startup accelerator that has also funded projects like Airbnb and Dropbox). You can read more about them here.
It’s a straight-forward and easy to use website. The front page, linked above and here, offers a menu to check your registration, register to vote, apply for a mail-in-ballot (if you can), and a list of helpful deadlines. Scroll down, and click on your state to see more information like ID requirements and early-voting information.
If you don’t want to go through a third-party website for voter registration, you can check registration and apply directly through your state’s Secretary of State (the office that handles elections) or State Board of Elections. One way to find your state’s website is via this drop down menu, or by googling “Am I registered to vote STATE NAME” and selecting the official government link (usually the top). The official website will have a .gov ending, and should feature the Secretary of the State’s office title or contact information. Be wary of ads at the top of Google search results. These are often sponsored by political parties or for-profit companies. For example:
To make it extra easy, below are a few links to state websites. Every state has a different requirements and deadlines, and some states still require printed applications. Make sure you start filling out the necessary paperwork now, and read the fine print!
Alabama (check if you’re registered here, register to vote here)
Colorado (check if you’re registered here, register to vote here)
Florida (check if you’re registered here, register to vote here)
Illinois (check if you’re registered here, register to vote here)
New York (check if you’re registered here, register to vote here)
North Carolina (check if you’re registered here, register to vote here)
So you mentioned deadlines?
Deadlines to register to vote differ by state (and even the deadline for the type of registration can differ within states). Below are the different state deadlines for the 2020 general election:
October 2nd: South Carolina (in-person)
October 4th: Alaska, Arkansas, Rhode Island*, South Carolina (online)
October 5th: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii*, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana (by mail), Mississippi, Montana*, Ohio, South Carolina (by mail), Tennessee, Texas,
October 6th: Illinois* (by mail), Nevada* (by mail or in-person), New Mexico (by mail or online)
October 7th: Missouri
October 9th: Idaho*, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma
October 10th: Delaware
October 13th: Kansas, Louisiana (online), Maine*, Maryland*, Minnesota*, New Jersey, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, D. C.*, West Virginia
October 14th: Wisconsin*
October 16th: Nebraska (by mail)
October 18th: Illinois* (online)
October 19th: Alabama, California, Michigan*, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wyoming* (by mail)
October 21st: New Hampshire* (by mail)
October 23rd: Nebraska (in-person), Utah*
October 24th: Iowa*, Massachusetts
October 26th: Washington*, Colorado*
October 27th: Connecticut*
October 29th: Nevada* (online)
October 31st: New Mexico (in person), North Carolina (in-person registration only from October 15-31)
November 3rd: North Dakota (no process, just show up with an ID and vote!), Vermont*
* indicates voter registration in-person on Election Day, November 3rd.
So with all these choices, how do I actually vote?
Voting in-person: Like registration information, Vote.org can help you find your polling place. They provide links to the relevant Secretary of State’s website. This is important to check. Your polling location may be different than years prior.
Some states also allow you to vote in several voting locations—allowing you to vote somewhere more convenient to your work than your home, for example—but several states only allow you to vote at one place. Double check, today!
Voting-by-mail: This is where it gets tricky. To ensure your vote will be counted in time for the November 3rd election, you should aim to return your mail-in ballot by October 20th. Again, every state will have different deadlines, and some states will allow ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by November 3rd. But, isn’t it better to be safe than sorry?
Returning a vote-by-mail ballot in-person: Several states also provide drop boxes for mail-in ballots, or allow you to return mail-in-ballots at in-person location. This is an excellent alternative to those who want to avoid crowds, but are concerned about the security or feasibility of retuning the vote by mail (or, you missed the suggested October 20th deadline). But yet again, there will be state differences in who can return these ballots, and and how.
Voting early: Most states allow for early voting. You do not need an excuse to vote early—it’s for everyone! The polling locations will be different (and fewer) for early voting, but it is something you should consider taking advantage of.
Again, every state has different laws governing early voting, and you will need to visit your Secretary of State’s website for information on the when, where, and how for early voting.
States that do not allow early voting: Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina.
But, like, does this even matter? I’m just one vote after all…
If the right to vote didn’t matter, why would so many people dedicate so much time and effort to achieve the right? Women weren’t granted the right to vote until 1920 (19th Amendment). For Black women, the right to vote was thwarted by poll taxes and powerful forms of voter suppression until the 24th Amendment in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Indigenous people were not considered American citizens and unable to vote until 1924 (The Indian Citizenship Act), and not even every state complied until 1957. Asian-Americans were not permitted to become citizens, and thus also excluded from voting, until 1952 (The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952). And all 18-20 year olds were not able to vote until the 26th Amendment was passed in 1975.
The intense public effort to secure these rights should not be understated. As the decades-long fights that led to these amendments and pieces of legislation make clear, the right to cast a ballot is vitally important. Not only does it determine who has a voice in the electoral process, but it is a direct reflection of how America views equality and citizenship. And while examples of suppression that often come to mind are historical, this is undoubtedly a present-day issue. Making it more difficult to vote, degrading the importance of individual votes, and instilling doubt in the process and outcome of the election are tools of voter suppression.
Hopefully these factual, nonpartisan resources help you and your friends. Share these links, register to vote, and and consider becoming a poll worker!
Any other questions or concerns about voting and registration? Let me know!