Not if, but how: California prepares for an all vote-by-mail election in November
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2020/04/not-if-but-how-california-prepares-for.html
By Ben Christopher,
CalMatters |
This
coming November, every one of California’s more than 20 million registered
voters may receive a ballot in the mail — whether they ask for one or not. In
fact, many election administrators and advocates say it’s inevitable.
“It’s not
a question of ‘if,’ said Kim Alexander, the president of the California Voter
Foundation. “But ‘how.’”
California
is already ahead of the curve when it comes to voting from home. In the March
primary election, 75% of voters got a ballot in their mailbox. But the
exigencies of social distancing are putting pressure on state lawmakers to
round that up to 100%, ensuring that every registered voter has the option to
cast a ballot without having to physically crowd into a polling
place.
A bill from Palo Alto
Democratic Assemblyman Marc Berman would ensure just that. But with most state
legislators sheltering in place until at least early May, all eyes are on the
governor who, with an executive order, could make the upcoming election an
all-mail affair.
Earlier
this month, Joe Holland, president of the California Association of Clerks and
Election Officials and top election official in Santa Barbara County, sent Gov.
Gavin Newsom a letter requesting that he ink a new edict, declaring the
November contest an “all-mail ballot election.”
Even if
mass gatherings are permitted in November — something Newsom says is unlikely — county election
officials say time is of the essence. Ballots have to be ordered, voter rolls
assembled, polling places secured.
“The
consensus for November 2020 is that California is going to go all vote-by-mail
— and we should. We don’t want to have a Wisconsin debacle,” Holland said,
referring to the April 7 presidential primary where some voters reported waiting in line for five hours. Since
then at least three dozen voters and polling workers in Wisconsin have tested positive for COVID-19.
The
governor’s press office has not responded to a request for comment about
prospects for a California all vote-by-mail election.
Even an
“all-mail” election in California isn’t quite what it sounds like — it
wouldn’t really be without a brick-and-mortar option. For those who need some
extra help exercising their right to vote, state law requires counties to set
up a certain number of in-person polling places.
Through
Holland, the association also asked Newsom to grant them the authority to
radically scale back that requirement. And therein lies the current rub.
Some
advocates warn that an insufficient number of drop-off sites and vote centers
could leave many voters — particularly those from underrepresented demographic
groups — either unable to vote or stuck in long lines at the few remaining
in-person locations.
“Waiving
the state’s in-person voting standards will potentially disenfranchise tens, if
not hundreds, of thousands of California voters,” union president Bob
Schoonover, whose chapter of the Service Employees International Union
represents tens of thousands of public sector workers across Southern
California, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Alex Padilla earlier
this month.
Like so many debates of the COVID-era, it’s a disagreement that
pits constitutional rights once thought to be non-negotiable against the
prescriptions of public health.
“We’re
trying to find the right balance of response that gives voters as much choice
as possible, but also keeps them safe, and frankly, which is also implementable
in the short number of months that the counties have to gear up,” said California
Common Cause interim director Kathay Feng.
The
coronavirus pandemic has injected new urgency into the national conversation
about voting by mail, with some states now making it easier for voters to cast
their ballots while self-isolating at home — and others not, and getting sued for it.
Despite evidence that making it easier
to vote remotely does not benefit one party over another, the debate has taken
on a partisan bent.
Weighing
in earlier this month,
President Trump urged Republicans to fight “very hard” against the expansion of
vote-by-mail opportunities, claiming without evidence that such a system has
“tremendous potential for voter fraud” and that “for whatever reason” such
systems don’t “work out well for Republicans.”
The
president’s views notwithstanding, recent polling has found strong
majorities of Americans believe voters ought to be able to cast their ballots
by mail without an excuse — though results are split on whether a majority of
Republicans feel the same way.
But in
California, there is little debate in policy-making circles about the merits of
vote-by-mail elections.
Throughout
April, Secretary of State Padilla — the administrator in chief of the state
election system and, like Gov. Newsom, a Democrat — convened roughly 80
election officials, experts and advocates. They met, remotely, of course, in
daily conference calls to game out how California might hold a statewide
election during a full-blown pandemic.
Subgroups
splintered off to hammer out every last logistical detail. Would registration
deadlines be changed? How will each voter’s language preference be determined?
Self-adhering envelopes that risk gumming up ballot-counting machines versus
those sealed by pathogen-packed spit — how should counties decide?
Jonathan
Stein, a program manager for the Asian Law Caucus’ voting rights program, was
part of that task force. He said there was unanimity on at least one issue.
“There
seemed to be almost universal agreement that we need to send every single voter
a vote-by-mail ballot,” he said.
The
question is, what other options will be available too?
Election
rights advocates say in-person polling places offer a vital service to voters
who don’t speak English, who experience some kind of disability, who don’t have
a fixed address, who recently moved or who simply don’t feel comfortable with
or do not understand the vote-by-mail process.
“There
are a lot of communities that depend on polling places and polling centers,”
said Mike Young, political director at the California League of Conservation
Voters. In California, in-person voters skew poorer, younger and less white than the average voter.
An
insufficient number of polling places could jeopardize public health even
further, Young added. Like Holland, he pointed to Wisconsin as a cautionary
tale. “People are anticipating that this is going to be an insanely
high-turnout election.”
California
voting rights advocates seem to have at least the tacit support of the state’s
top election official.
“I think
people who need or prefer an in-person option deserve it,” Padilla told KQED earlier this month.
“And so we’re going to have to work really hard with counties to ensure we
maintain as much in-person voting as we can.”
But
county registrars argue that such requirements may put voters and poll workers
at unnecessary risk.
“Quite
frankly if we had an election tomorrow I wouldn’t be within a hundred feet of a
polling place,” said Holland in Santa Barbara.
There are
also practical questions about space and staffing, both of which are severely
limited by the pandemic. Polling places are often hosted in schools, senior
centers, and the garages of private homes — most of which are likely off
the table now. The typical poll worker is a retiree, a cohort particularly at
risk of severe COVID-19 complications.
Santa Barbara
County is preparing to reduce the number of in-person locations from the 86
that were open in March to around five. Holland’s office may use the
registrar’s three offices and then try to
secure a handful of additional sites
and the necessary poll workers.
“I don’t
know if I can find three other facilities,” he said. “I have 15 staff and
that’s when they’re here and healthy and right now three or four are out sick.”
Assemblyman
Berman’s bill said his bill does not yet address in-person polling site requirements,
but that the “first move shouldn’t be to weaken existing in-person voting
requirements.” He urged state and county officials to be “creative” in finding
locations and staff.
In the
meantime, he said, some additional guidance from the governor could be helpful.
Newsom
has already issued an executive order mandating that all
voters in two upcoming special elections receive ballots in the mail. Though
the order “encouraged” counties “to make in-person voting opportunities
available,” they were given the freedom to do so “in a manner consistent with
public health and safety.”
The two
elections, a Senate race in Riverside County and a congressional contest north
of Los Angeles, is showcasing how counties may differ in how they administer elections
during a pandemic. In the congressional race, split between
Los Angeles and Ventura counties, there will be at least a dozen locations
where voters can drop off ballots in-person.
In
Riverside County, home to the special Senate district, there will be only two
physical drop-off points and no polling places or vote centers where voters can
have their questions answered or their errors corrected.
“That’s a
perfect illustration of what will happen if we give election officials full
discretion,” said Stein.
CalMatters.org is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and
politics.
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