Voting by Mail in the Swing States
President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting as “fraudulent” and “corrupt,” even going so far to suggest it might be a reason to postpone the Nov. 3 election. But voters can use that option without giving a reason for doing so in six swing states that are crucial to his reelection bid.
The six — Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — are among the 34 states (plus Washington, D.C.) that have “no excuse” absentee or mail-in voting, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
About a quarter of ballots cast in the 2018 general elections nationwide were by mail, according to the Election Assistance Commission. (Our map at the bottom of the story shows the percentage of votes cast by mail for each state in the 2018 election.) And mail-in voting has soared during this year’s primaries as the nation struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The president has drawn a distinction between absentee voting, which he says is “good,” and mail-in voting. But as we have reported, it’s a distinction without a difference. Voting experts have told us verification is the same for both, and many states consider them the same thing.
As we have written, there is no evidence to support the claim that “mailed ballots are corrupt.” Voting experts say the president is exaggerating when he says mail ballots are “fraudulent in many cases.” While the instances of voter fraud via mail-in or absentee ballots are more common than in-person voting fraud, the number of known cases is relatively rare.
That said, mail-in ballots are not without problems. Ballots because they arrive late, because voters forget to sign them or other errors. Because of a massive increase in New York City remained undecided nearly six weeks after voters went to the polls.
