With the Virus Certain to Spread, We Need Vote By Mail in Every State
With the coronavirus starting to spread, we should think of ways to deal with the pandemic since containment now looks impossible.
The best way to save the election of 2020 might be to allow all voters to Vote By Mail as some states already do. All states allow some absentee voting, but many require excuses.
Most state legislatures can not act quickly enough to implement total vote by mail for November but they can plan for a huge increase in absentees and begin urging their voters to think about absentee voting this year.
States that already have Vote By Mail systems usually have far higher voter turnout and it provides a paper trail that makes hacking less likely. Everyone who votes absentee is not making the lines longer on election day. Some voters in the Texas primary last week waited in line over five hours.
The down side is that it may take a couple of weeks to determine winners.
The mailings need to have their own adhesive to discourage people from licking.
The US Center for Disease Control is already suggesting the elderly or others with high risk factors avoid leaving their homes. Voting By Mail is likely their best option.
Amid a coronavirus outbreak in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted new guidance on its website, encouraging older people and people with severe chronic medical conditions to “stay at home as much as possible.”
This advice is on a CDC website that was posted Thursday.
The CDC says early data suggests older people and people who have severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung, or kidney disease are at higher risk for more serious illness from the novel. coronavirus. The CDC says older people are twice as likely to become seriously ill if they become infected with the virus.
