Election officials in the District of Columbia are increasing the number of ballots for this fall’s general election. And they are not alone.
Officials in states across the country – including Arizona, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin – are also making similar moves to give voters a safe, socially distant option to throw their ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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But the pressure for more ballot box comes as President Trump continues with his unreliable attack on the postal vote, which he has repeatedly claimed will lead to mass voter fraud. And it comes as the President and Democrats in Congress are fighting over increased funding for the U.S. Postal Service ahead of what is certain to be a massive increase in postal voting.
An interviewer is wearing personal protective equipment while checking a ballot box for post-vote calls outside a polling station during voting on August 7, 2020 in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo / Lynne Sladky)
An impetus in the number of ballot papers could allow a larger percentage of voters to vote. After cutting overtime and late deliveries to deal with its budget suffering, the Postal Service warned states last week that it could not guarantee that all mail received on time would be counted in the November elections.
After intense pushback across the country, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy – a strong supporter of Trump appointed by the president – announced this week that he would halt some of the cost-cutting changes that were being implemented, but that critics claimed it ability of the Postal Service to handle emails with ballot papers.
House Democrats questioned DeJoy’s announcement and said they would push ahead with a vote on Saturday for breaches of email service. Chamberlain Nancy Pelosi supported DeJoy’s announcement as a “temporary break” in Trump’s “election sabotage campaign.” She said the House Democrats bill would provide $ 25 billion in funding the USPS administration wanted and would ban DeJoy from cutting back on email service during the coronavirus pandemic.
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As the fighting continues in the nation’s capital, pressure for more ballot boxes comes under attack by the president.
“Some states use ‘dropboxes’ for the collection of Universal Mail-In Ballots. So who will ‘collect’ the ballots, and what can be done about them before they tabulate? A by-election? So bad for our country. Only absent ballot papers acceptable! ”Trump tweeted Monday.
But election experts do not agree with the president’s claims. They explain that these ballot boxes are designed with safety in mind. They are mostly located in safe places, such as courthouses or election offices and some come equipped with security cameras. Dropboxes lying outside such facilities – which can be accessed 24/7 by voters to cast their ballots – are made of sturdy materials such as steel and are normally cemented to the ground. They also note that only election officials process and process the ballots once they have fallen into the boxes.
Those trying to manipulate boxes would likely have prosecution for fraud – leading to fines of up to $ 10,000 and five years behind bars for conviction of a fraud.
However, the presidential and Republican National Committee (RNC) re-election campaign filed a federal lawsuit against Pennsylvania over dropboxes after Philadelphia and suburban communities used them in their primary June, when a massive 1.4 million ballots were mailed. sent. Democratic state legislators have countersued.
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The president suggested on Tuesday that a massive shift to postal voting in the presidential election could cause so many problems that officials would have to re-vote.
“It will end with a rigged election, or they will never come up with an outcome,” Trump told reporters. “They’re going to have to do it again, and nobody wants that.”
Holding a national election again has never happened in American history. And the president does not have the power to reschedule an election.
While the president continues to push against universal posts in polls, only nine states plan to vote almost entirely by post this year.
As the president pondered running for re-election, his campaign and the RNC filed a lawsuit against New Jersey on Tuesday after Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy gave an executive order that would send a vote to each registered voter, but also a one-person vote wherever you wanted.
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Murphy dismissed Wednesday, tweeting “Let me be clear: Voting by post in the November election will keep people safe. Period. The Trump campaign has begun with a fierce attempt to sow fear and confusion, and to delegitimize our elections and doubt our democratic process. “
Fox News’s Lissa Kaplan contributed to this report
