How Voting by Mail Could Cost Biden the Election

As the coronavirus pandemic fanned across the country in the spring, Democrats looking ahead to the presidential election urged people to stay home in November—and vote by mail.

Minnesota’s secretary of state encouraged all eligible voters to cast their ballot by mail. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam told “every Virginian who can vote by mail to do so.” The instruction echoed from Pennsylvania to Nevada, where Governor Steve Sisolak said, “We prefer that people stay home, especially if you’re in a vulnerable situation.”

The message was heard, loud and clear. An August Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found that roughly half of Biden voters expect to cast their ballot by mail this fall, an unprecedented figure. And, you might ask, why not? Mail-in voting reliably expands the electorate, with minimal fraud, without forcing people to queue with strangers and chance transmitting a deadly virus.

But the past few months have