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In recent weeks, President Donald J. Trump has doubled down on his call to eliminate mail-in voting (except under specially prescribed circumstances). He is rightly concerned that mass voting by mail potentially undermines the security and trustworthiness of elections. Although in recent years many states have taken steps to better secure the mail-in vote, too many vulnerabilities remain.
Common sense dictates that no state should allow unrestricted ballot harvesting.
However, there is a downside to eliminating mail-in voting, which is that much of the public values its convenience, and it has increased voter participation. Although in 2020, Democrats garnered a significant advantage from mail-in voting, the 2024 election saw a more level playing field, due in large part to Charlie Kirk’s national Turning Point Action project and regional initiatives.
There is an alternative, less controversial approach the president might want to consider: taking steps to improve the security of remote voting to a tolerable level.
Voter Identity Theft
Individuals obtaining mail-in ballots by impersonating registered voters is one area that requires attention. For example, some states will send out ballots, no questions asked, to a requested address that differs from the voter’s address of record, even to voters presenting as inactive in the registration rolls. Clearly, such a loose process significantly lowers the bar for vote fraud, including by facilitating voter identity theft.
It is not difficult to mitigate this risk, such as by implementing specific requirements for verifying the voter’s identity and current residency status, while at the same time keeping voter rolls as clean and up-to-date as possible. Also, statistical metrics can be used to monitor for systematic vote fraud involving requests for mail-in ballots from faux voters. For instance, how many ballot applications may be originating from voters with differing addresses of record requesting the same mailing address…
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