Those partisan attacks on mail voting mirror wariness among California Republicans, according to a new poll conducted by the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies.
The poll affirmed that mail voting is already widespread in California: pluralities of both Republican and Democratic registered voters said they had mailed in ballots during recent elections. A substantially greater share of Republican voters than Democratic voters said they had done so before.
But Republicans cited far less faith in the integrity of the process. A majority said they were less confident their vote would be counted when voting by mail versus other methods. While a majority of Republicans said they trusted the U.S. Postal Service to deliver ballots “safely and on time,” a third disagreed — far more dissenters than among Democrats.
In-person voting options will still be available throughout California on Election Day and in the days leading up, providing an outlet for mail skeptics. But the results suggest that California could see a scenario in which fewer Republicans cast mail ballots while Democrats embrace the system.