The coronavirus lockdowns this spring that kept millions of Americans at home and away from large crowds crashed headlong into the primary elections around the nation. At least 16 states pushed back their primary dates, prompting renewed calls for voters to have more access to mail-in and early voting options for the November elections.
In late March, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced S. 3529, the Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act (NDEBA), which would ensure that voters have 20 days of early voting and no-excuse absentee vote-by-mail options. Under the bill, states would be required to start processing early and mail-in votes 14 days before election day to avoid delays in counting votes. It would also authorize funds to help states cover the cost of implementing the act, including the price of providing absentee ballots and prepaid postage as well as the cost of purchasing absentee ballot drop boxes.
The bill, which would take effect before the 2020 general election, has 26 co-sponsors, including former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
“Americans are facing unprecedented disruptions to their daily lives and we need to make sure that in the midst of this pandemic, Americans don’t also lose their ability to vote,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “As Congress prepares to provide states with medical and economic relief, we should also act swiftly to pass my legislation to ensure that every American has a safe way to participate in our democracy during a national emergency.”
NDEBA came after Ohio, Louisiana, Georgia, Maryland and Kentucky all announced they would postpone their presidential primary elections to avoid crowding during the coronavirus pandemic. However, the bill’s sponsors noted that natural disasters, like hurricanes and wildfires, are happening more frequently and with greater severity, posing another threat to safe voting.
The issue picked up additional momentum in April when Wisconsin forged ahead with in-person voting for elections, despite a statewide stay-at-home order. That prompted former presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to announce a $4 billion plan to shore up voting infrastructure in states, require 30 days of early voting and give every registered voter a mail-in ballot with prepaid postage. The Wisconsin elections, she said, were a “wake-up call” that should spur immediate action on voting access.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also advocated for $4 billion to help states secure voting in the 2020 election cycle as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. That number was eventually reduced to $400 million once the stimulus package passed the Senate in late March.
Republicans, including President Trump, have pushed back against mail-in voting initiatives, saying they would be cumbersome for states at a time when they are managing the health and economic consequences of the coronavirus. In a statement, Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) said that “imposing additional constraints on states from the federal government is the opposite of what we should be doing right now,” calling the proposals “unnecessary policies” during a national emergency.
In an April 2020 report, researchers at the Bipartisan Policy Center noted the hurdles to a smooth rollout, writing: “Facilitating a well-orchestrated vote-by-mail election is the equivalent of a logistical nightmare. And with a global pandemic sweeping the country, this logistical nightmare can only get worse.”
President Trump, meanwhile, echoed concerns of some Republicans that mail-in voting could also lead to an increase in voter fraud, despite limited evidence of fraud in states that use mail-in ballots. During an April 3 White House press briefing, he stated it allows people to “cheat” and voiced support for voter ID requirements. “It shouldn’t be mailed in, you should vote at the booth, and you should have voter ID,” he said. “Because when you have voter ID, that’s the real deal.”
Trump has also warned that mail-in voting would hurt his party’s electoral chances, writing on Twitter that it “doesn’t work out well for Republicans.”
Five U.S. states — Colorado, Washington, Hawaii, Oregon and Utah — currently default to mail-in voting. Whether that expands nationwide will be up to Congress, although many more states are expected to explore their options ahead of the November elections.
For more background, see the May 2019 issue of Congressional Digest on “Voting, Campaign Finance, and Ethics Reform” and the October 2018 issue on the “Voting Rights Act.”
