Love in Action : Mail In Voting

Love in Action : Week 9

Love in Action : Wednesday 12-1pm mst

Please join Lead with Love for zoom work sessions each week that highlights current issues related to social justice, civic engagement, environmental stewardship and child advocacy that need of our help. We will provide tangible actions and perform these efforts within the 1 hour meeting.

This week our efforts will focus on mail in voting.

We see civic engagement and democratic participation as a necessary form of self care and cultural wellness. Voting is a right that must be encouraged and protected by all states.

Having a presidential election during this crazy pandemic is complicated. We've already seen the pivots through the primaries, campaign season and plans for conventions. This is an unprecedented time.

As voters take to the polls, we need to ensure that they are able and encouraged to do so safely, so we are taking action this week in support of mail in voting. Please join us to better understand this practice and take action to ensure this option is made accessible to those who would like to use it.

According to the New York Times, “voting by mail is the surest path to a more inclusive, more accurate and more secure election.”

If you haven’t yet registered for Love in Action, please do so by clicking the button below.

Toolkit

Pen/Pencil
Paper/Journal
Computer with Email/Wifi
Phone

About Mail In Voting

Mail in voting is a process in which your government automatically sends you your ballot in the mail. Often times, the ballots are accompanied by booklets that provide detailed voting information on initiatives and candidates.

Mail in voting is similar to absentee voting. However, absentee ballots are requested by the voter whereas vote-by-mail is something mandated by the government or legislature. Because of this, the system for mail-in-voting is much more widespread than absentee voting, and would require new protocol for many states.

Many states that are in support of mail in voting are not mailing ballots directly, but are instead automatically mailing application for mail ballots to all voters.

Five states have been using mail in voting since before covid. Oregon (introduced in 1998), Washington (introduced in 1991), Hawaii (introduced in 2019), Colorado and Utah (both introduced in 2013).

What’s the Problem with In Person Voting?

There’s one main reason mail-in voting is an important conversation for the 2020 election: Covid-19. The pandemic is already stressing our election capabilities. We saw evidence of this during the primaries in a number of states including: Wisconsin, Georgia, Illinois, Florida and Arizona.

First, the virus creates a risk of low voter turn out. Voters are confused about voting protocol and frightened about putting themselves at risk. For many people, especially those who fall into high risk categories such as elderly, this could create a context where we see demographics under represented in the polls. During the primaries we saw 7 cases of covid that were confirmed to be linked to in-person voting on Election Day in the city of Milwaukee.

Also, there is a major shortage of poll workers and many have dropped out this year because they tend to be from high risk groups and are scared of contracting the virus. Fewer poll workers means fewer polling stations. During the primaries, Milwaukee normally would have 180 polling locations but was only able to staff 5 this year. In Georgia, many voters experienced over 5 hour lines in high heat, which will further dissuade voters and make voting inaccessible to certain high risk voters. In Kentucky, we saw lines so long that the polling station closed before voters had a chance to vote. When polling stations are limited, we see it particularly impacting people of color from working class neighborhoods.

How Does Mail In Voting Help?

Because we’ve been advised to avoid any large gatherings, mail in voting would provide an alternative to crowded polling stations with many touch points where germs can spread. Mail in voting would enable voters to vote safely from their own homes. Furthermore, increased mail in voting would alleviate pressure on polling stations so fewer workers and longer lines would not be as great a problem.

We know that there is no real evidence of voter fraud increasing during instances of mail in voting.

Voters, in states that offer mail-in voting, tend to love the process, and in all of these states there appears to be a notable increase in voter turnout, in particular during down ballot / local elections.

There are however some drawbacks. Mail in voting - in particular in states where there is a lack of infrastructure to support this new protocol - will likely show big delays in ballot counting. Voters will need to check with their states because some states (swing states in particular) will reject ballots received after election day. Early voting is encouraged for voters who choose to use a mail-in option. Also, mail-in voting relies heavily on the USPS, an institution that’s functionality is already in crisis over budgetary issues (we can address this matter at a future Love in Action session).

Issues Arising from this Cause

Safe and Fair Voting • Democratic Participation • Voter Suppression • Covid-19

Check Your Registration

“Is your voter registration up-to-date? Even if you voted before, from time to time, states and local election offices purge their voter registration lists. They delete people who have moved or who haven’t voted in a long time. And sometimes there’s just an error. That’s why it’s a good idea to check your registration now to make sure you can vote on Election Day.”

Start by finding your local election office here. Follow links to confirm your registration. Every state is different, but these are really great websites to be familiar with well before the election.

Apply to Vote by Mail

If you live in a state that isn’t automatically sending a ballot (Every state besides: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, Washington), you need to apply to receive yours by mail. Click here to find out if you need to apply and if you do, please follow the steps to completing your application.

Encourage Others to Vote by Mail

As leaders, we are able to make change even beyond our own efforts. Writing a personal email to our friends and loved ones is more likely to have an impact by relying on connection and modeling our activated values. This is a great action to take in particular if you live in a mail-in voting state but have friends who do not. See how many emails you can send in one action session!!

Here’s a suggested message:

Hi friend,

It’s wild that election day is less than 3 months away. I have a feeling these next months are going to fly by and so now is a good time to make sure we’re prepared.

Have you checked to make sure your registered? Even if you think you are, it’s a good idea to confirm. I just did so myself. You can do so too by clicking here.

Also, have you given any thought to voting by mail? Especially during this pandemic, you may want to consider this option. It’s much safer and there are concerns that the lines to vote in person may take many hours. At that same link (here), you can check to see what your state requires to receive your ballot in the mail.

One of the few problems with voting by mail is it is sure to cause delays in the election results. To help mitigate this, I’m committing to sending my ballot in within 3 days of receiving it. Can you commit to doing the same? We can be accountability partners to each other if you’re down!

Lastly, if you believe voting by mail should be a right provided in all states, as I do, then please call your representative and encourage them to support such legislation. You can find their contact information by clicking here, and if you need a little inspiration on what to say, here’s a script to work off of:

Hi, I’m —name—, and I live in —city—.

I’m calling to urge you to support legislation that would require that all states provide their citizens vote by mail options during the coronavirus crisis for the 2020 election.

I don’t want to have to pick between my health and my right to vote. States should remove barriers to vote by mail, make sure polling locations are well resourced to be safe and accessible, and expand early voting. But they need money to do this, and the $400 million from package three was not enough.

Will [YOUR LAWMAKER’S NAME] commit to only vote for a Coronavirus relief package that includes at least $2 billion in funding for states to invest in safe and secure elections?

Voting is fundamental to our roles as citizens, and the government should support their voters and poll workers by making our elections as safe as possible during this public health crisis.

Thank you.

Call Your Rep:

Click here and search by state to find out the contact information for you senator. If you live in a state that is already using mail-in voting, you can still encourage your reps to support nationwide legislation using this script below. Or, if you prefer you could call senators from the states that have made mail-in voting most difficult by requiring applications with excuses other than covid. These states are: TEXAS, LOUISIANA, MISSISSIPPI, INDIANA, KENTUCKY, NEW YORK and SOUTH CAROLINA. If you have friends in these states- encourage them, in particular, to reach out to their reps.

Hi, I’m —name—, and I live in —city—.
I’m calling to urge you to support legislation that would require that all states provide their citizens vote by mail options during the coronavirus crisis for the 2020 election.
I don’t want to have to pick between my health and my right to vote. States should remove barriers to vote by mail, make sure polling locations are well resourced to be safe and accessible, and expand early voting. But they need money to do this, and the $400 million from package three was not enough.
Will [YOUR LAWMAKER’S NAME] commit to only vote for a Coronavirus relief package that includes at least $2 billion in funding for states to invest in safe and secure elections?
Voting is fundamental to our roles as citizens, and the government should support their voters and poll workers by making our elections as safe as possible during this public health crisis.
Thank you.

Sign

Headcount’s petition:
Protect the November 2020 Election by Offering Vote-by-Mail in all 50 States
Moveon.org’s petition:
COVID-19: Expand vote-by-mail in every state

Become a Poll Worker

If you are young and healthy, please consider registering to become a poll worker. You will be amplifying your civic engagement (and it’s usually a paid position!) To learn more: click here