The Truth About Mail-In Voting

Let’s be clear, absentee ballots and voting by mail have been going for a very long time. The earliest known vote-by-mail occurred during the American Revolution back in the 1700s. It became a regular form of voting during the Civil War (1862) to allow soldiers to vote in the midterm election. So, this notion of mail-in voting being a way to commit fraud is an absolute lie. There is no truth to that claim.

Here’s is another fact. David Becker, the founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, confirms Russia helped Donald Trump in 2016. He further warned they are trying to do it again, by feeding Americans misinformation about voting on the internet and social media. They are going out of their way, Becker says, to make American voters lose faith in democracy and deter people from voting. See what he said last year during a C-Span interview about the progress that has been made to protect the 2020 election below.

Countless studies have shown all forms of voting fraud are extremely rare in the United States. Afraid he was losing to Hillary Clinton, Trump had his team do a national investigation in 2016. They came up empty handed and found no real evidence of fraud. In addition, Becker told CNN absentee ballot voting and mail-in voting are virtually the same thing. What’s so funny is Donald Trump votes by mail and plans to mail in his ballot for the November election.

On Friday, July 31, while painting a false distinction between absentee and mail-in voting, Trump told reporters, "Absentee ballots are great ... I'm going to be voting absentee."

Back in June, PBS did a special report on the facts surrounding vote-by-mail. See what they found in the video below.

Five states conduct all elections entirely by mail. These states include Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and Utah. At least 21 other states allow smaller elections to be conducted by mail exclusively. Experts like Charles Stewart III, a professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says though voter fraud has happened, it is still very rare.

Stewart pointed to a 2018 case involving North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District. Absentee ballots were rounded up for Republican candidate Mark Harris. This is called ballot harvesting. Ironically Harris was not charged with election fraud.

Bottom line: don't believe the hype. Exercise your right to vote. Vote early, during early voting or for sure on November 3. Last but not least, if you want to vote by way of absentee or mail-in, do it. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands with be voting by mail. It is highly encouraged that these voters request a vote-by-mail ballot now and get it in early.