There were some that proactively sent applications to vote by mail to registered voters. Absent Congress passing a bill and the president signing that bill into law -- and there are no signs Congress is considering such a serious move -- the Election Day remains set for Nov. 3, the first Tuesday of
Voting has always been cumbersome: Laws and deadlines vary state-by-state; key information can be difficult to nail down; and changes made to the process may go unnoticed by voters until it's time for them to engage in their civic duty.
Absent Congress passing a bill and the president signing that bill into law -- and there are no signs Congress is considering such a serious move -- the Election Day remains set for Nov. 3, the first Tuesday of the month. How have states expanded or relaxed the rules around mail-in voting amid the pandemic?Voting advocates have touted mail-in voting as a safe and secure alternative to voting in person since the pandemic started. The statewide primaries that took place early in the pandemic served as trial runs for states from coast to coast.
Story continuesWhile the witness requirement was waived for the primary, voters in South Carolina will need one for the general. The other states where it's still required are Oklahoma, Alaska and Alabama. According to the NCSL, 18 states have postmark-by-date laws on the books, meaning that as long as ballots are postmarked on or before Election Day -- or in some cases by the day prior to the election -- they will be counted, as long as they make it to election officials by a specified deadline, ranging from three to 14 days after the election. Not all mail gets a postmark date on it, so be sure that your returned ballot has one.
Eight states where a significant percentage of voters choose to cast ballots by mail always have ballot drop boxes, according to the NCSL: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. Two of these states -- Massachusetts and Delaware -- have eliminated the excuse requirement altogether for the November election. Eight of these states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York and West Virginia -- are allowing all voters to cite the coronavirus pandemic as a reason to cast their ballot by mail for the general election.
While the court ordered that it will not require the state to allow for no-excuse absentee voting in the fall, it instructed state officials to ensure that voters who could be at risk of contracting the coronavirus -- like a voter with an underlying health condition -- or caretakers for a person who is vulnerable to the virus know they can cast their ballots by mail.“They couldn’t buy him and they can’t control him,” she tells @MarthaRaddatz, adding that nothing will change her mind about him.
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