• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Independent Voter News
  • Campaign Finance
  • Civic Ed
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Events
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Election Dissection>
  3. vote by mail>

Four ways to fix voting before the next election

Steven Huefner
October 29, 2020
absentee ballot
Wikimedia Commons

With only five days remaining before Nov. 3, it's not too early to take stock of how things should have been different. Here are four things that need to happen before the next election. All four reforms derive from actual controversies over the past six months, things that never should have been the subject of extended legal or political battles.


First, in every state, all voters should have a choice of three ways to cast ballots, to maximize their ability to participate in this fundamental civic duty. All voters should be able to vote in-person on Election Day, of course. They should be able to vote in-person prior to Election Day. And they should be able to use a mail-in ballot (whether or not it is returned by mail, or instead by hand delivery). It's long past time to reject the anachronistic view that any voter who is sufficiently committed can find a way to get to the polls on Election Day. Even before the 2020 pandemic, that view betrayed a class bias contrary to any genuine effort to foster a robust democracy with full citizen participation. (An alternative would be to make Election Day a holiday, an often-proposed reform that deserves full consideration, although easy mail-in voting would still be needed.)

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Second, local election jurisdictions should be able to establish as many early voting centers and ballot drop-box locations as needed. Voting should be convenient. Because urban, suburban and rural jurisdictions face different issues, they shouldn't be constrained by inflexible standards.

Third, states should allow voters to mark and send in their mailed-in ballots through Election Day. These ballots should be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day. The cut off should be several days after Election Day (the specific deadline to be determined after a thorough investigation of mail processing times).

Fourth, all states should permit mail-in ballots to be pre-processed before Election Day, so that all such ballots received by Election Day can be tabulated that day. That will avoid the unnecessary days of processing and counting that will follow after Nov. 3 this year.

Many states already follow these four principles, but they deserve to be standard throughout the United States. Imagine how much litigation and uncertainty could have been avoided this year had these four practices already been in place. These provisions could easily form the core of a reform effort, potentially in conjunction with other proposed federal legislative reforms, to be applicable to all future federal elections.

Steven Huefner is professor of law and deputy director of the election law program at The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law. Read more from The Fulcrum's Election Dissection blog.

From Your Site Articles
  • Protecting the Integrity of U.S. Elections: A Conversation with Rep ... ›
  • Politicians, philanthropists push election integrity - The Fulcrum ›
  • Bipartisan panel launches $20M election integrity effort - The Fulcrum ›
  • State by state, electoral reform is happening — but not fast enough ›
  • Voter Protection Corps final thoughts on 2020 vote - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Election Law @ Moritz ›
  • Election Law Blog | Rick Hasen's blog ›
  • Election Integrity | Freedom House ›
  • Business Leaders Speak Out on Election Integrity - The New York ... ›
vote by mail

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Confirm that you are not a bot.
×
Follow

Support Democracy Journalism; Join The Fulcrum

The Fulcrum daily platform is where insiders and outsiders to politics are informed, meet, talk, and act to repair our democracy and make it live and work in our everyday lives. Now more than ever our democracy needs a trustworthy outlet

Contribute
Contributors

Grand Canyon gap in America today

Dave Anderson

Chief Justice John Roberts and Chief Justice Roger Taney are Twins– separated by only 165 years

Stephen E. Herbits

Conservatives attacking Americans’ First Amendment rights

Steve Corbin

To advance racial equity, policy makers must move away from the "Black and Brown" discourse

Julio A. Alicea

Policymakers must address worsening civil unrest post Roe

Sarah K. Burke

Video: How to salvage U.S. democracy from the "tyranny of the minority"

Our Staff
latest News

America’s greatest resource- Education

William Natbony
29 September

The Carter Center and Team Democracy unite to advance candidate principles for trusted elections

Ken Powley
29 September

There is no magic pill for postpartum depression

Priya Iyer
28 September

Advancing human rights, worldwide

Leland R. Beaumont
28 September

How statelessness gambles with the lives of American families

Samantha Sitterly
27 September

Podcast: Is reunification still possible?

Our Staff
27 September
Videos
Video: Expert baffled by Trump contradicting legal team

Video: Expert baffled by Trump contradicting legal team

Our Staff
Video: Do white leaders hinder black aspirations?

Video: Do white leaders hinder black aspirations?

Our Staff
Video: How to prepare for student loan repayments returning

Video: How to prepare for student loan repayments returning

Our Staff
Video: The history of Labor Day

Video: The history of Labor Day

Our Staff
Video: Trump allies begin to flip as prosecutions move forward

Video: Trump allies begin to flip as prosecutions move forward

Our Staff
Video Rewind: Trans-partisan practices and the "superpower of respect"

Video Rewind: Trans-partisan practices and the "superpower of respect"

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Is reunification still possible?

Our Staff
27 September

Podcast: All politics is local

Our Staff
22 September

Podcast: How states hold fair elections

Our Staff
14 September

Podcast: The MAGA Bubble, Bidenonmics and Playing the Victim

Debilyn Molineaux
David Riordan
12 September
Recommended
America’s greatest resource- Education

America’s greatest resource- Education

Big Picture
Grand Canyon gap in America today

Grand Canyon gap in America today

Elections
The Carter Center and Team Democracy unite to advance candidate principles for trusted elections

The Carter Center and Team Democracy unite to advance candidate principles for trusted elections

Big Picture
There is no magic pill for postpartum depression

There is no magic pill for postpartum depression

Big Picture
Advancing human rights, worldwide

Advancing human rights, worldwide

Big Picture
Chief Justice John Roberts and Chief Justice Roger Taney are Twins– separated by only 165 years

Chief Justice John Roberts and Chief Justice Roger Taney are Twins– separated by only 165 years

Big Picture