Almost a Week Away…

I am pausing my normal discussions as we are nearing the one week mark from election 2020!

Whether you are interested in politics or not we are witnessing history. This year has been a year like no other and our country is more divided than it has been for decades. For the first time in history we are voting with large scale mail in ballots. This has led to controversy as their is fear of voter fraud and ballots not being counted.

Let’s talk about voter fraud…

Voter fraud has been an issue for years and has lead to controversy across states. One of the biggest controversies has always been over ID laws and how strict they are. Photo ID laws are often favored by Republicans, as they state that these are laws to prevent voter fraud. Here is a list of the states with photo ID laws and what they are.

From the map above you can see the trend that southern states typically have stricter laws. The controversy is that many believe that these laws are actually just a way to suppress voters, mainly minorities. The simple fact is that having to obtain a photo ID can be difficult for some and is a longer process, making voting more difficult. But in a more cynical view (with a large amount of history and fact backing it) it is a way to keep minorities from voting. But there is often a correlation with border states and strict photo IDs as immigrants often do not have photo ID as well as people of the lower class.

So the threat of voter fraud has often been away to limit people from voting by making it more difficult or discouraging them. Repeated research has shown how rare voter fraud is, although it is present but never high enough to make a difference. Republicans have always used this as a way to suppress voters and this year is no exception.

Mail Voting

Mail in voting is has been used plenty of years before Covid-19. The concerns come with the fact that it will be a higher load of mail ins than ever before. The truth is that some mail will go missing and there will be some instances of fraud. But for one there won’t be nearly enough to make a difference (hopefully) and for two there is the assumption that it is only going to help the Democrats, which is just silly.

Historically mail in voting has been used since the Civil War where soldiers were allowed to vote absentee. Then in the late 1800s, people who were away from home or seriously ill were permitted to vote absentee. It has been used by the military and people such as college students ever since. It was then permitted for any registered voter to vote by mail in California (the first state to do so).

So like the ID laws this is just another tactic to try to discourage people from voting, don’t let it fool you… Vote! The fear is that Trump will contest the results no matter what and we will not know our next President until as late as January, 20th. So stay tuned for a historic couple of months, I’ll be hear to update you along the way.