To minimize the risk of coronavirus spreading, many states (though not all) have eased the process of mail voting, often by eliminating the need for an “excuse” to vote by mail. A few states are going so far as to send ballots to every active registered voter in 2020 — California, Nevada, New Jersey, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. They join five states that were already effectively vote-by-mail states: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and Utah.
Experts say that these decisions about how to run state-by-state elections are just one element of a toxic brew that poses a risk to the proper functioning of democracy. The other elements include concern about the pandemic, heightened political polarization, and a deluge of misinformation on social media.
“Americans can no longer take for granted that election losers will concede a closely fought election after election authorities or courts have declared a winner,” wrote a panel of election experts on ensuring public confidence in the 2020 elections. “Current American politics feature severe hyperpolarization and an increasingly partisan media and social media environment. Mistrust is high. It is harder for voters to get reliable political information. Incendiary rhetoric about rigged or stolen elections is on the rise, and unsubstantiated claims of rigged elections find a receptive audience especially among those who are on the losing end of the election.”
Here are some of the specific challenges facing the elections process…