Parties and Mail Ballots

CMC alum Cameron Joseph at VICE:

Wisconsin is careening towards an election-day disaster on Tuesday, an ominous

preview of how the pandemic, paired with partisanship, could shape the presidential elections this fall.

The state is the only one that refused to move its elections out of April to respond to the coronavirus. And the Republicans who control Wisconsin’s state legislature, working closely with the national GOP, spent weeks refusing to change election rules to make it easier to vote safely.

Wisconsin Republicans have been working closely with Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee to try to prevent universal vote-by-mail in the state, part of an expansive effort from the RNC as they ramp up to fight coronavirus-related election changes they think could hurt their election chances.

“There’s serious concern on the conservative side that the liberals are changing the rules in the middle of the election and tilting them toward their favor,” said Brian Reisinger, a top Wisconsin GOP strategist. “There’s a major feeling that absentee and early voting are tools of the left to make up for the fact that they can’t win on election day.”

That sentiment is widely shared in the GOP — and could make it exceedingly difficult for states to come up with ways to pandemic-proof their elections, make sure huge swaths of voters aren’t disenfranchised in November, and avoid extensive post-election litigation that could leave the outcome of the 2020 election in the air long after election day.

POTUS on April 3:

Q But — but do you think every state in this country should be prepared for mail-in voting in case we’re in a situation —
THE PRESIDENT: No, because I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting. I think people should vote with ID — voter ID. I think voter ID is very important. And the reason they don’t want voter ID is because they intend to cheat.
When you get something, when you buy something, you look at your cards and credit cards and different cards — you have your picture on many of them. Not all of them, but on many of them. You should have a picture on your — on your — for voting. It should be called “Voter ID.” They should have that. And it shouldn’t be mail-in —
Q But how are you going to —
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me. It shouldn’t be mail-in voting. It should be: You go to a booth and you proudly display yourself. You don’t send it in the mail where people pick up — all sorts of bad things can happen by the time they signed that, if they sign that — if they signed that by the time it gets in and is tabulated.
No, it shouldn’t be mailed in. You should vote at the booth. And you should have voter ID, because when you have voter ID, that’s the real deal.