The remaining 16 states allow voters to cast a mail ballot only if they meet certain criteria — typically, that the voters will be away from their home county on Election Day, that they are serving abroad in the military, or that they are ill, disabled, or hospitalized. In each of these states, however, Covid-19 should qualify as an excuse applicable to all voters. In every state, a voter’s illness or disability constitutes a valid reason for an absentee ballot. Whether or not voters have actually fallen ill from the coronavirus, the fact that most voters are likely either asymptomatic carriers, at risk for contracting the virus, or at risk for complications from the virus should be sufficient to meet the existing statutory requirements.
Indeed, some state statutes expressly allow for absentee ballots where there is a risk that voters will become ill. In Mississippi, for example, a voter may cast an absentee ballot if the voter’s “attendance at the voting place could reasonably cause danger to himself or others.” In Texas, a voter may obtain a mail ballot if the voter “has a sickness or physical condition that prevents the voter from appearing at the polling place on election day without a likelihood of . . . injuring the voter’s health.” In short, Covid-19 should serve as a valid “excuse” that entitles every voter to an absentee ballot under existing law, and authorities in every “excuse” state should make that clear now.
In a growing number of states, election officials and governors have already interpreted their absentee voting laws broadly to permit all voters to cast a ballot by mail in the primaries. These same interpretations should apply in November, assuming Covid-19 will still be around, as experts predict. Those states are…