Safe and Secure Voting in the Time of COVID-19
Voters have repeatedly demonstrated during this year’s primaries that they want options to vote safely and securely during the pandemic. They deserve those options. That means our election officials must be prepared to run two, simultaneous and robust election processes this fall: a secure absentee ballot system and a healthy in-person voting experience. Administrators and legislators must be prepared to make necessary adjustments to election systems to ensure free, fair, and secure elections this year.
Accessible
Absentee Ballots
- Make requesting accessible: Voters should have convenient options to request an absentee ballot. Officials should consider proactively mailing absentee applications to active voters, offering an online absentee request platform, and including absentee requests in concert with voter registration to streamline processes.
- Offer options to return: Voters should be afforded secure and convenient options to return their absentee ballot including pre-paid postage via USPS, secure drop-boxes, and absentee return at early and election day polling places.
- Allow pre-canvassing of results: To streamline the tabulation process, officials should begin processing returned absentee ballots prior to election day.
- Accept postmarks: The USPS is already cautioning about longer than usual delivery times this fall. Voters should not be punished because of issues with the mail service. Administrators should count absentee ballots postmarked prior to Election Day if they arrive after.
Safe In-Person
Polling Places
- Offer election supercenters: retrofitting arenas or convention centers as massive polling places accommodates social distancing and allows for huge numbers of voters to safely and efficiently cast their ballot with fewer required poll workers. They are usually well-known, large spaces with adequate parking and access to transit.
- Provide early voting opportunities: early voting is often less crowded than election day. Voters should have the option to vote early to avoid overcrowding and long lines.
- Be attentive with any necessary consolidation: It is a reality of the health crisis that staff capacity may be limited. Beyond offering super sites, officials should take into account the size of smaller locations, the number of poll workers available, and the amount of equipment available and adjust the number of precincts assigned accordingly.
Gear Up To VoteSafe
VoteSafe and RESOLVE have joined forces to launch Gear-Up to VoteSafe, a new non-partisan initiative to get personal protective equipment (PPE) into the hands of election officials, poll workers, and volunteers. We are working with election officials, polling sites, and other interested organizations to purchase and distribute Gear-Up to VoteSafe PPE kits at scale and initiate a communications effort to support safe in-person voting.