Can People Vote by Mail and Then Vote Again at the Polls in California?
The ease of mail-in voting may increase turnout in California'south remember election.
A temporary alter in California's election rules aimed at protecting voters during the coronavirus pandemic could be instrumental in Gov. Gavin Newsom's effort to beat back a proposed recall — and could become permanent if the governor signs a nib that state lawmakers passed last week.
Voting by post has emerged as a disquisitional cistron in the Republican-led recall, which political experts say volition probably hinge on whether Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, can turn out the land's enormous base of liberal voters earlier the polls shut on Sept. 14.
Because of the coronavirus, lawmakers ensured that ballots would automatically be mailed to every registered, agile voter, turning an already popular selection into the default through at least the end of this twelvemonth.
Equally a result, political experts tracking returns in the recall are predicting that at least fifty percentage of registered voters will cast ballots, roughly double the turnout that would be expected in a special election. Paul Mitchell, a vice president at Political Information Inc., a Sacramento-based supplier of election data, said more than a quarter of the electorate had already voted.
"You cannot enlarge how important the mail-in ballot will be in this election," said David Townsend, a Sacramento-based Democratic political consultant. Because Democrats outnumber Republicans by two to one in California, the electoral math is with Mr. Newsom — but only if his voters cast their ballots. Voting by mail gives even indifferent voters a nudge and an opportunity to cast a ballot without much endeavour.
"Before this, yous had to convince a voter to get in a car, drive to a location with no existent signage only a flag and get vote on something they might care nearly or might non," Mr. Townsend noted. "Now you become a election in the mail service, make an 10 by a box, sign information technology and drop it back in the mailbox. You don't even have to await for a postage stamp."
Most two-thirds of California voters cast mail-in ballots in 2018, only in many parts of the state the option required that voters encounter an application borderline. Every bit the coronavirus surged in 2020, Mr. Newsom and California'south legislators became concerned that going to the polls might endanger voters and poll workers.
Assemblyman Marc Berman, a Democrat who represents parts of Silicon Valley, said he was especially alarmed by Wisconsin's primary ballot, where voters were required to come to the polls in person as infections were raging.
"There was this footage of people standing for hours risking their wellness," Mr. Berman said, "merely to exercise their right to vote."
The bipartisan determination to mail ballots to all 22 meg or so of the state'south registered and active voters was "wildly successful," Mr. Berman said. "Elections officials up and downwards the state said the election went remarkably smoothly."
Californians who had non actively voted in contempo years did not get ballots mailed to them, and bar codes helped prevent double voting. Studies conducted afterward constitute few, if any, sustained complaints of voter fraud.
Some 87.5 percent of the electorate used the mail-in ballots to vote in 2020, either mailing them in or dropping them off at drop boxes or polling places. Turnout among registered California voters was nearly 81 percentage, said Mindy Romero, director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the University of Southern California.
"We had the highest voter turnout since Harry Truman was president," said State Senator Tom Umberg, an Orange Canton Democrat who, equally chair of his sleeping room'south committee on elections, sought to extend the system at least through this year.
At the fourth dimension, he said, the extension was to protect voters in 2 upcoming local special elections; the recall effort confronting the governor had and then few signatures that it was widely regarded equally a long shot.
As onetime President Donald J. Trump complained with increasing intensity that his presidency had been stolen, California Republicans became less supportive of mail-in ballots, and the extension in California passed on a party-line vote. A bill to brand the arrangement permanent is on the governor's desk later the State Legislature passed it last week, over again over Republican objections.
A spokeswoman for the governor said he does not comment on pending legislation. Withal, lawmakers said the governor was expected to sign the nib.
If it is signed, Mr. Berman said, California will become the 6th state to require active registered voters to be mailed a ballot before each election, along with Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Utah.
Still, experts say that many California voters from across the political spectrum prefer to hand their election to a homo rather than drop it in the mail service.
"Young voters and Latino voters tend to vote in person," said Luis Sánchez, executive managing director of Power California, a statewide progressive organizing group focused on young voters. "They want to brand sure their vote counts."
Every bit of Tuesday, 15 percent of voters ages 18 to 34 had returned their ballots, compared with 47 percent of those 65 and older, although the one-time make up the largest age group, co-ordinate to Political Data Inc.
Democratic ballots far outnumbered those from Republicans.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/us/mail-in-voting-california-election.html
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