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Election Dissection
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Unfinished election business: how to track and cure your ballot

It's the day after Election Day, and thankfully for most voters, it was a straightforward process with short wait times at the polls. But some voters now need to take additional steps to ensure their votes count, especially if they voted by mail or were forced to use a provisional ballot. Even now, you can successfully "cure" your ballot, a process in which you can fix any problems and make sure your vote is counted.

What are the common reasons people may need to cure their ballots? In many states, the curing process is used to correct ballots with missing or mismatched signatures, identification issues, or missing pieces of your vote-by-mail package. Your state will notify you if there is a problem with your ballot. That gives you a short window — typically a few days — to correct the issue so that your ballot is not rejected.

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Election Dissection
Wikimedia

Closing arguments: Time to turn protest into power

Now is not the time to leave any power on the table.

On the day before one of the most important elections of our lifetimes, my message to voters is simple: Vote! By any means necessary. Some may doubt the integrity of our democracy or that their one vote will have an impact on any given race. But know this: Voting is the way communities, especially Black and Latino communities, can translate their year-long protest of state violence into power that transforms the priorities of our nation.

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Election Dissection

Early voting in Georgia began with long lines and tech issues.

Why long lines in early voting may signal voter suppression

With only 11 days before the 2020 presidential election, more than 2.3 million Georgians have voted. Even more plan to do so before the state's Oct. 30 early-voting deadline. And just as in the primaries earlier this year, Georgia voters experienced extremely long wait times at the polls. On the first day of early voting, some Georgians waited more than eight hours to vote. Voters should never have to take an entire day to participate in democracy.

In response to excessively long lines, Walter Jones, a representative from the Georgia secretary of state's office remarked, "What this means is people are really energized and engaged in this race, and we prepared for it. "

Jones failed to mention that Georgia's extreme wait times are disproportionately affecting Black and Latino voters, or that voter suppression strategies are also drivers of the state's long voting lines. While it's undeniable that states across the country are experiencing record voter turnout in this year's election, we shouldn't ignore the intentional actions taken to suppress the vote. This is a key reason why Black and Latino voters are still waiting in hours-long lines.

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