Wave of mail-in ballots expected to create problems for primary and general election
Emily Previti
Kansas set a turnout record for its Democratic presidential primary over the weekend. Despite an uncontested presidential nominating race, voter participation tripled after the state party scrapped in-person voting altogether and mailed ballots (with return postage) to every registered Democrat.
Kansas is only one of two states (Alaska is the other) with an entirely party-run presidential primary this year, according to the Federal Elections Commission.
State officials who will run the general election in Kansas this November are not considering a shift to all-mail at this point, but the state’s election chief made headlines this weekend with his idea to recruit teenagers to help run limited in-person voting this fall.
Saturday’s results were tabulated relatively quickly, partly because the Kansas Democratic Party required ballots to be returned by April 24.
Ohio, meanwhile, is still finalizing its tally from last Tuesday, a contest conducted entirely by mail-ballots to accommodate coronavirus mitigation efforts. The switch was made very last minute, especially when compared to the five vote-by-mail states, each of which transitioned to all-mail over the course of years.
Pennsylvania isn’t doing a mail-only primary; however, voters are being encouraged to request mailed ballots. Many voters here are pursuing that option, as election officials told lawmakers recently that they’re barely keeping up with the deluge of applications.
They also want the authority to process returned ballots ahead of Election Day. During a state Senate State Government Committee hearing last week, several county election directors asked legislators to change state law so they can begin canvassing earlier. You can read my story about that here.
Afterward, I reached out to the lawmakers who run the committee about what they intend to do based on the information shared with them.
The chief of staff to state Sen. John DiSanto (R-Dauphin/Perry) initially told me via email that the election directors hadn’t highlighted any specific statutory changes they would like to see from the legislature, but that dialogue would continue.
When I pointed out that these officials did indeed recommend changes to state law, he replied, “[W]hether there is legislative and key stakeholder consensus on these new suggestions will be determined … in [the] coming days.”
In other election news, the conservative group Judicial Watch is suing the state and several counties over their maintenance of voter registration rolls (read the lawsuit here). A response is due today from the Wolf administration.
Two other lawsuits against the Pa. Department of State are seeking to give voters more time to return ballots to county elections offices. Public Interest Law Center attorneys bringing one of the cases say they aren’t involved in coordinated efforts to pursue similar challenges in other states. But the other case is being pursued by the Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans in conjunction with the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA and makes similar arguments to legal challenges being pursued in other states.