Tag Archives: Absentee Voting

A federal judge appeared skeptical Friday about ordering Georgia’s government to cover the postage cost of returning primary election ballots in a case arguing that it’s an unconstitutional poll tax. U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg was deciding whether to revoke the requirement for voters to pay for a 55-cent stamp on their absentee ballots, which are already being mailed to voters and tell them to “place sufficient postage here” before returning them for the state’s June 9 primary.“How do you do this without confusing people? How do you do this without creating a disparity in the voting process if some people are given stamps now when other hadn’t?” Totenberg asked during a four-hour court hearing held online via a Zoom videoconference. “There’s a host of problems.”Totenberg didn’t immediately issue a ruling Friday in the lawsuit, which says voters shouldn’t have to pay to cast their ballots. The lawsuit by Black Voters Matter, a group founded in 2016 to increase African American voter registration and turnout, asks the judge to rule that the cost of voting by mail creates a barrier for those unwilling to risk buying stamps or voting in person during the coronavirus pandemic. “The point is that folks shouldn’t have to put themselves at risk,” Cliff Albright, a co-founder of Black Voters Matter, said during the hearing. “Requiring this postage stamp creates a barrier to certain communities, low-income communities.”

Indiana: Counties preparing for mail-in voting surge as voters seek to stay home | Sara Barker and Steve Garbacz/KPC News

Standing in line close together then touching the same machine everyone else in your neighborhood has touched might not be the best way to vote during a pandemic. Now, county clerks and elections workers are preparing to hurdle obstacles that would make primary voting safe and accessible to everyone. Part of this is complying with an order handed down from the Indiana Secretary of State’s office, which is somewhat of a compromise between in-person and absentee voting. To come up with that voting plan, the Secretary of State’s office surveyed clerks of whether they’d like to see mailed ballots or in-person votes. Indiana Democrats had pushed for an entirely vote-by-mail primary due to coronavirus, but the state election commission didn’t choose to go that far.

New York: Cuomo orders postage-paid absentee ballot applications to be sent to all New York voters | Max Greenwood/The Hill

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) issued an executive order Friday requiring state election officials to send postage-paid absentee ballot applications to all voters amid the coronavirus pandemic. “I am issuing an Executive Order to ensure every New York voter automatically receives a postage-paid application for an absentee ballot because no New Yorker should have to choose between their health and their right to vote,” Cuomo said in a statement. New York is one of more than a dozen states that requires its residents to provide an excuse to receive an absentee ballot. That changed earlier this month when Cuomo signed an executive order allowing all New Yorkers to vote absentee in the state’s June 23 primary election. Voters will still have to request an absentee ballot ahead of the primary, but Cuomo’s executive order on Friday effectively makes that process free, taking away the need for voters to pay for postage when they return their applications for an absentee ballot.

Wyoming: Could Wyoming expand its vote-by-mail program this year? | Nick Reynolds/Stae Tribune

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed people’s daily lives, upending how we make trips to the grocery store, how we worship and a plethora of other rituals. So it is with our elections. Over a month ago, the Wyoming Democratic Party announced it would be suspending the in-person portion of its presidential caucus, citing public safety concerns tied to the virus. Almost immediately, the decision sparked controversy among some members, who feared their ballots could arrive late, or not at all. When the votes were finally counted last weekend, however, not only did it turn out that the party could successfully conduct a ballot entirely by mail, but that it could achieve record turnout in the process, reporting a 38 percent participation rate: roughly double that seen in prior caucuses. Nearly all of it was done by mail. And all of it was orchestrated by a staff of three people with the help of a handful of volunteers scattered throughout the state.

Wisconsin: Elections Commission urges absentee voting for Special Election May 12 | WSAW

The Wisconsin Elections Commission is urging anyone who is concerned about COVID-19 exposure to make plans now to vote absentee for the May 12 Special Election in 7th Congressional District. “If they are concerned about going to the polls on Election Day, registered voters should request an absentee ballot as soon as possible,” stated Meagan Wolfe, Wisconsin’s chief elections official. nThe deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail is Thursday, May 7, but Wolfe said voters should not wait until then because processing or postal delays could make it difficult to receive and return the ballot by May 12.

National: Did we order enough envelopes? Vote-by-mail advocates worry time is running out to prepare | Kevin Collier/NBC

Some of the most ardent supporters of voting by mail have a warning: Time is running out to prepare for the November election. Officials who want to offer far more voters the option of mailing in their ballots are running out of time to make that option a reality, experts warned Wednesday during a livestreamed hearing hosted by the Election Assistance Commission, the federal agency tasked with giving states guidance on how to effectively conduct their elections. Panelists cautioned that while voting by mail can be a safe and effective option for many Americans, preparations to do so take substantial investments of time and money, made more difficult by the fact that most election officials are working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic. Scanning machines, ballots and even envelopes can become roadblocks if states do act soon enough. “I’m one of the biggest advocates for vote-by-mail and absentee voting,” said Kim Wyman, the secretary of state of Washington state, which is widely regarded as a leader in transitioning to a full vote-by-mail system.

Voting Blogs: What are costs of voting by mail? The costs are as varied as the process | M. Mindy Moretti/electionline Weekly

The next time you fly, whenever that may eventually be, if you ask everyone on the flight how much they paid for their ticket, you’ll get a different answer from just about every passenger. The same can be said for how much it costs to conduct an election entirely or mostly by mail. It’s a bit different for every jurisdiction. Election costs are traditionally difficult to gather given the dispersed nature of funding sources — federal dollars, state reimbursements, fees for services, general funds, etc.— as well as the functions across different governmental agencies (in some states). Another obstacle is the way we talk about elections. The same term is used to describe different things (IE “early voting”) so it isn’t as easy as simply comparing election office budgets. “However, if we break it down to the bare materials and functions—those specific to the policy being analyzed, we can get a semblance of understanding of baseline costs,” said Tammy Patrick senior advisor, Elections at the Democracy Fund. Additionally, Patrick noted, the answer sought needs to be specified in order to ask the correct question. For instance, there is a difference between “what does it cost to conduct an all-mail election” and “what costs are specific to an all-mail election”?

Pennsylvania: A key Democratic group is suing to ease Pennsylvania’s vote-by-mail laws | Jonathan Tamari/Philadelphia Inquirer

A major Democratic political group is backing a new lawsuit aiming to make it easier to vote by mail in Pennsylvania because of the coronavirus crisis. The suit was filed Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans and funded by Priorities USA, the main super PAC supporting likely presidential nominee Joe Biden. The suit cites obstacles created by the pandemic — including health risks for voters and poll workers — as requiring expanded mail voting. … The lawsuit is part of a national fight around voting laws, one that has become increasingly critical as the coronavirus has disrupted elections. Both parties are scrambling to adapt for elections almost certain to rely heavily on mail-in voting. The Pennsylvania suit prominently cites the April 7 primary election fiasco in Wisconsin, where numerous polling places were closed, state officials were overwhelmed by a flood of mail-in ballot requests, and many ballots did not reach voters in time, leading to long lines at polling sites, despite a stay-at-home order.

National: The vote by mail fault lines that could define November’s election | Kendall Karson/ABC

April 23, 2020

The ongoing legal wrangling over voting rights and access, an issue that has become an undercurrent of the 2020 election, foreshadows some of the expected clashes to come ahead of November’s uncertain general election. The quarrels center on expanding mail voting as states adjust to the unprecedented coronavirus crisis, particularly in key battlegrounds that could tip the scales of the upcoming presidential contest. In states such as Georgia, Texas, Nevada and Florida, among others, state and party leaders are seeking to change the way people vote to avoid a similar fate as Wisconsin, where a series of emergency orders and legal challenges earlier this month culminated in thousands of voters risking their health to stand in long lines for hours to vote. Since Wisconsin’s election, state health officials said Tuesday that 19 people who have either voted in-person or worked at a polling site on election day have so far tested positive for COVID-19 after April 9, two days after the spring election — underscoring the potential risks of forging ahead with an in-person voting during the height of the widespread and deadly public health crisis.

Wisconsin: Milwaukee Council votes to mail absentee ballot applications | Alison Dirr/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

April 23, 2020

The Milwaukee Common Council voted unanimously Tuesday to create a program under which all of the city’s approximately 300,000 registered voters would receive an application for an absentee ballot in the mail.

The “SafeVote” program also provides voters with a postage-paid return envelope so they can participate in the fall election. The measure was proposed by new Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic and passed at her first meeting on the Common Council. The resolution notes thousands of people turned out to vote in person earlier this month in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic that has caused government officials to limit the number of people who can gather under other circumstances. In Milwaukee, some residents reported waiting in line for more than two hours to cast their ballots at the city’s five in-person polling locations.

National: The 2020 Elections: Is America Ready to Vote by Mail? | Carl Smith/Governing

April 21, 2020

The 2020 general election was never going to be calm, but the COVID-19 pandemic has brought worst-case scenarios out of the shadows and into the forefront of planning. That means secretaries of state, election officials, legislators, lawyers, voters rights groups and other stakeholders are gathering strategies and resources to safeguard both public health and democracy. “It’s a given that the election in November will be different than ones we’ve held in the past,” said Wendy Underhill, director of the Elections and Redistricting program for the National Conference of State Legislatures. “States can scale up their existing processes, or they can adopt new processes with the expectation of more mail-in ballots and fewer in-person voters.” “We’ve got to reduce the number of people who have to show up in person to vote, and the only way to do that is vote by mail,” said Chad Dunn, director of litigation for the UCLA Voting Rights Project and a co-author of its election policy recommendations. “We’ve got to flatten the curve,” “As election officials, we shouldn’t ignore the message that voters are sending,” said Neal Kelley, the registrar of voters for Orange County, Calif., the country’s fifth-largest voting jurisdiction. “This country has been using widespread absentee voting since the Civil War.”

Editorials: The Simplest Way to Avoid a Wisconsin-Style Fiasco on Election Day | Edward B. Foley and Steven Huefner/Politico

April 21, 2020

The fiasco surrounding Wisconsin’s April 7 primary election is still fresh: In the middle of a viral pandemic, crowded, in-person voting took place despite the governor’s stay-at-home order, while tens of thousands of voters did not receive absentee ballots in time to cast eligible votes by mail. Two election eve judicial decisions added to the confusion. Unfortunately, the November elections are at risk of looking similar. With coronavirus likely to remain a threat for months, some form of voting by mail, including in states historically unfamiliar with high rates of absentee voting, will be a public health necessity. But one issue with mail-in ballots, whether a state uses them just for absentee voters or for the entire election, is that they need to be postmarked or delivered to a polling station no later than Election Day. If local election offices can’t handle the increased demand for absentee ballots and voters don’t receive their ballots in time to cast them by Election Day, those voters are disenfranchised. And that, in turn, could lead to heated, possibly prolonged disputes about election outcomes. But there’s a fairly straightforward way Wisconsin could have avoided its mess—and the rest of the country could do so in the fall. In fact, this solution already exists, albeit in a limited context.

Missouri: ACLU Explains Its Lawsuit To Force Vote-By-Mail Option | Sarah Fenske/St. Louis Public Radio

April 21, 2020

In Missouri, you may only vote by mail if you apply for an absentee ballot — and cite one of just six specific reasons detailed in state law. Among them are illness or disability, or the fact you’ll be traveling out of the area. “Fear of contracting COVID-19” is not listed among them. But the ACLU of Missouri believes that should, in fact, be sufficient cause to cast an absentee ballot. Working in concert with the Missouri Voter Coalition, the organization filed a class-action lawsuit last Friday against the state of Missouri, the Missouri Secretary of State and a few local boards of election. It argues that the “illness or disability” clause in state law should include those staying at home to avoid the coronavirus, since it specifically mentions “confinement due to illness” as a qualifier.

National: Voting by mail in the spotlight as U.S. Congress debates how to secure November elections | Richard Cowan/Reuters

Congress is scrambling for ways to safeguard the Nov. 3 U.S. elections amid the coronavirus pandemic, with a partisan fight shaping up over a Democratic proposal to require states to offer the option of voting by mail. President Donald Trump, seeking re-election this year, and some of his fellow Republicans have voiced opposition to expanded voting by mail, citing concern over ballot fraud – a worry that Democrats dispute. Democrats have said election procedures will need to change this year because many voters will be reluctant to stand in long lines or enter crowded polling sites for fear of infection. In recent years, Democrats also have accused Republicans of pursuing policies in some states to make voting more difficult in a bid to disenfranchise Democratic-leaning voters. Congressional Democrats are pushing for additional funding for election aid to states in the next round of coronavirus-response legislation expected to be crafted by lawmakers in the coming weeks.

Missouri: Civil rights groups sue Missouri in effort to expand absentee voting amid pandemic | Austin Huguelet/Springfield News-Leader

Civil rights groups sued state and local election authorities Friday in an effort to ensure people can vote by mail if they’re staying home amid the coronavirus pandemic. In a lawsuit filed Friday, plaintiffs led by the ACLU of Missouri asked a judge to declare that state law allowing someone to vote absentee due to “incapacity or confinement due to illness” applies to people sheltering in place. Currently, it’s not clear that’s the case, creating confusion with municipal contests all over the state set for June 2. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a Republican and the state’s top elections official, has declined to clarify the issue, saying it’s not his place.

New Hampshire: Officials grapple with how to prepare for mail-in voting in November | Patrick O’Grady/Granite State News Collaborative

What was once reserved for a narrowly defined group in New Hampshire, absentee balloting for the state primary on Sept. 8 and general election on Nov. 3 is now essentially open to every voter in the state as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. That could mean a flood of absentee ballots that would have to be processed on Election Day, the only day they can be opened under current state law. “We are probably going to get inundated with absentee ballots,” Laconia City Clerk Cheryl Hebert said, echoing a similar concern expressed by other clerks. State law lays out in detail the absentee balloting process, including voter eligibility. Before that eligibility was expanded on April 10 to allow anyone concerned with the coronavirus to vote absentee, only voters who would be out of town on Election Day, unable to vote at the polls because of employment, had a physical disability or claimed a religious observance could receive the privilege.

Virginia: State sued over witness requirement for absentee ballots | Denise Lavoie/Associated Press

The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday asked a federal court to block Virginia election officials from requiring that absentee voters find a witness to watch them sign their ballots, citing the social distancing guidelines prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. In a lawsuit filed on behalf of three voters and the League of Women Voters, the ACLU argues the witness requirement could force absentee voters who live alone to choose between not voting or risking their health by asking another person to come to their homes to witness their signatures. Under state law, any voter who submits an absentee ballot by mail must open the envelope containing the ballot in front of another person, fill out the ballot and then ask the witness to sign the outside of the ballot envelope before it is mailed.

Wisconsin: Election commission to look into unreturned absentee ballots | Ashley Luthern/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Wisconsin Elections Commission unanimously agreed Saturday to dig deeper into the issue of unreturned absentee ballots in the state’s controversial April 7 election. Of the absentee ballots requested in the spring election, 1.1 million — about 88% — were returned and counted, while 135,417 ballots were never returned, according to the latest data provided Saturday by the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Commission Chairman Dean Knudson noted the average absentee ballot return rate is 80 to 85% for state elections. “My point here is while much has been made of this, we actually had a higher than the historical average percentage of valid return,” Knudson said. But the raw number of unreturned ballots went up because so many more people tried to vote absentee because of the coronavirus pandemic, he said.

Texas: Voters who fear catching the coronavirus can vote by mail, state judge rules | James Barragán/Dallas Morning News

A state judge said Wednesday afternoon that all voters in Texas afraid of contracting COVID-19 through in-person voting should be allowed to vote by mail during the pandemic. State District Judge Tim Sulak of the 353rd District Court in Travis County said he will issue a temporary injunction allowing voters who fear catching the new coronavirus to qualify for mail-in voting through the disability clause in the state’s election code. The lawsuit was filed by the Texas Democratic Party and several voting rights groups who are concerned that voters in upcoming July elections, including the primary runoffs, could catch the virus if access to mail ballots is not expanded. “Today is a victory for all Texans. The right to vote is central to our democracy,” the party’s chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement. “Voters should not have to choose between their lives or their right to vote.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he was “disappointed” that the court had “ignored the plain text of the Texas election code to allow perfectly healthy voters to take advantage of special protections made available to Texans with actual illness or disabilities.”

National: Trump Denigrates Vote By Mail, But Troops Have Been Doing It For Decades | Courtney Bublé/Government Executive

President Trump and other Republicans have alleged that voting by mail is not secure, but some election experts and former military officials say otherwise, noting that U.S. troops and civilians posted overseas have been doing it successfully for decades. As the presidential election coincides with the novel coronavirus pandemic, many states have adopted vote-by-mail for their primaries and caucuses and support is growing among election officials to expand such efforts for the general election in November to heed social distancing guidance. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and White House coronavirus task force member, said on CNN on Sunday, that he “can’t guarantee” in-person voting will be possible or advisable in November due to the ongoing pandemic.

National: Mail-in voting benefits neither party, is nearly fraud-free | The Fulcrum

Voting by mail does not help Democrats more than Republicans and does not incubate fraud — but does generate a bit more turnout, a pair of academic studies out Thursday conclude. The twin reports, one from Stanford and the other from the Union of Concerned Scientists, come as the debate about making elections more flexible in the face of the coronavirus has become increasingly partisan. Although voting in person, the method used by three-quarters of Americans before this year, currently poses serious health risks to both voters and poll workers, President Trump is opposing efforts to broadly expand absentee balloting by November. He says the GOP will suffer and that a wave of widespread cheating will be the major reason. There’s no evidence of such partisan advantage in the detailed results from the past dozen elections in California, Utah and Washington. They were analyzed by the Democracy and Polarization Lab at Stanford, which chose the states because each steadily expanded voting by mail, county by county, in the last two decades so that it is now nearly universally used.

National: Historic shifts seen in support for mail-in voting | Maggie Miller/The Hill

The coronavirus pandemic is leading to major shifts in how Americans vote across the country and is forcing some of the most restrictive voting states to embrace change in their election procedures. The change is most apparent on the East Coast, where governors from New England to the South are signaling a new willingness to expand voting measures such as early voting and mail-in ballots, and on Capitol Hill, where leaders including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are strongly in support. Support for these efforts is spurred on by the public, with Democracy Corps finding in a poll conducted over the past month that more than 70 percent of Americans living in key battleground states are in favor of no-excuse absentee voting, which allows for voters to request an absentee ballot without having to state a reason. Some Republicans, including President Trump, are still staunchly against voting by mail, arguing it could lead to voter fraud and lessen election chances for the party.

Georgia: Record number of absentee ballot requests pour in for Georgia primary | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

More Georgia voters are planning to vote by mail than ever before, with 395,000 people having requested absentee ballots so far for the June 9 primary. The first release of statewide primary voting data Wednesday night showed high demand for voting remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger sent absentee ballot request forms to Georgia’s 6.9 million active voters last month, encouraging them to avoid human contact at precincts.About half as many people, 220,000, voted absentee in the 2018 election for governor. There were almost 203,000 absentee ballots cast in the 2016 presidential election. More voters have requested Republican than Democratic absentee ballots for this year’s primary. About 223,000 people pulled Republican ballots compared to 161,000 Democratic ballots. Another 10,000 sought nonpartisan ballots.

Nevada: Democrats sue state’s top elections official over vote-by-mail primary election plan | James DeHaven/Reno Gazette Journal

The Nevada State Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit to force changes to the state’s “unconstitutional” vote-by-mail primary election plan. The 65-page suit, filed in Carson City District Court on Thursday, was heralded in a joint statement from several prominent Democrats, including Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez. “These steps are essential to holding a safe, fair, and accessible election on June 9,” Perez wrote. “In the midst of a global pandemic, our leaders should be working to help us safely exercise our right to vote — not standing in the way. “It’s never been more urgent to take action that will expand access to voting, protect public health, and preserve Nevadans’ right to make their voices heard.”

Texas: A Battle Brews Over Voting by Mail Amid Coronavirus | Elizabeth Findell/Wall Street Journal

Republicans and Democrats in Texas are locking horns over coronavirus-related efforts to expand voting by mail, with Republicans arguing it can fuel voter fraud and Democrats warning that disallowing it could harm turnout and sway results. The Texas Democratic Party has filed two lawsuits against state election officials and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to extend the state’s limited mail-in eligibility. A state district judge Wednesday afternoon said he would grant Democrats an injunction to allow Texans to vote by mail; state Republicans are expected to appeal. At the same time, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a letter saying someone already ill with Covid-19 could vote by mail, but mere fear of contracting the illness wouldn’t qualify. Election stakes are high in the country’s second-largest state. For years, hopeful Democrats have declared that this will be the year Texas turns blue, while Republicans have rolled their eyes and said Texas will always be a red state. Now, after former Rep. Beto O’Rourke came within a few percentage points of unseating Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, Texas is more widely considered a battleground.

National: Why vote by mail triggered a partisan battle ahead of November’s election | John Whitesides and Julia Harte/Reuters

The drive to expand vote-by-mail options during the coronavirus pandemic has emerged as the centerpiece of a growing political fight ahead of November’s election. President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have attacked the idea of expanding mail balloting, arguing it is vulnerable to fraud and openly worrying that easier voting would hurt their party’s chances in November. Democrats and voting rights groups say it is a way to protect voters from the deadly virus, and that a failure to guarantee that option amid a pandemic will disenfranchise millions of Americans, especially the poor and African Americans who are deemed more vulnerable to the virus and who tend to vote Democratic. Last week’s turbulent Wisconsin elections, which went ahead after Republicans blocked Democratic efforts to delay in-person voting and expand absentee balloting, illustrated the partisan divide – and the mounting urgency to find a solution before the Nov. 3 U.S. election.

Arizona: Democratic lawsuit challenging absentee ballot deadline cites Supreme Court ruling on Wisconsin primary | Elise Viebeck /The Washington Post

A Democratic lawsuit challenging Arizona’s absentee ballot deadline is citing the Supreme Court’s recent ruling about the Wisconsin primary to support its case, arguing that the decision to allow absentee ballots to count in Wisconsin if they were postmarked on or by Election Day should also apply in Arizona. In a supplemental memo filed Tuesday in federal court, lawyers for a trio of plaintiffs argued that the high court’s ruling bolsters their complaint that requiring absentee ballots to be returned — rather than postmarked — on or by Election Day leads to the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters when their overdue ballots are rejected. The Supreme Court ruled on Monday of last week that absentee ballots in Wisconsin’s primary had to be postmarked by April 7, the date of election, but could be counted as long as they were received by April 13. Typically, absentee ballots in Wisconsin must be received on or by Election Day to count, making the decision a victory for Democrats as they seek to ease voting restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. Marc Elias, a Democratic elections lawyer involved in both cases, said precedent may be helpful in the legal push against Arizona’s deadline, which has emerged as the first test of whether lower courts will follow the Supreme Court’s lead. The original suit was filed in November.

Arkansas: Absentee voting rules could change for November election | Caitlin Sinett/KY3

Between election accuracy and protecting health, Boone County Clerk Crystal Graddy is pretty clear on what she would prefer to see for the November general election: as much in-person voting as possible. “I feel like it is much safer for us to do the electronic voting where someone comes in, they see their ballot, they see that it goes into the tabulator,” Graddy said. Graddy said people at the election center working the election could wipe down every station after it’s used, and people would have to stand six feet apart in line. But this past weekend, Gov. Asa Hutchinson made clear himself: Expanded absentee voting is likely to come this fall. “We need to have that in November as well in the event hat we have this national emergency because we want to have people safely vote,” Hutchinson said.

Georgia: Mailed ballots will be counted, even without a stamp | Mark Niesse, The/Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The cost of a stamp to vote by mail in Georgia’s primary has been criticized in a recent lawsuit as an unconstitutional poll tax and an obstacle to casting your ballot. But postage to return absentee ballots isn’t truly required, no matter what voters have been told. The U.S. Postal Service has a long-standing policy of delivering absentee ballots even if they lack sufficient postage, usually at least the cost of a 55-cent first-class stamp, depending on the weight of the ballot. So while voters will be asked to pay for postage, they don’t really have to. It’s probably safer to add stamps, but mail carriers are told to deliver ballot envelopes labeled as “official election mail.” Mailed-in ballots are expected to arrive in droves before the June 9 primary after Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger sent absentee ballot request forms to Georgia’s 6.9 million active voters. They’re being encouraged to vote from home and avoid human contact at the polls during the coronavirus pandemic.

Louisiana: Republican state senators block an emergency plan to expand early voting | Associated Press