Vote by Mail Activism and Advocacy Webinar: Video and Notes
Indivisible is prioritizing a national campaign to ensure alternatives to in-person voting across the nation so that nothing will put the November 2020 election at risk. On Thursday, April 16, Indivisible Plus: Washington and the Washington Indivisible Network hosted a webinar on Vote by Mail Activism and Advocacy with two special guests:
- State Senator Sam Hunt, chairman of the Senate Government, Tribal Relations & Elections Committee
- Kathy Sakahara, League of Women Voters of WA Voting Rights Committee chair
Huge thanks to the presenters — and to the attendees for the excellent questions!
Here’s the video
Here are the slides, including links to Indivisible’s campaigns:
And here are the notes — apologies for anything that’s unclear!
Background
How did this happen — what steps did our state go through to get vote by mail?
Kathy: “the short answer is Sam Hunt — a champion for years.”
Late 1980s, Thurston County did a local issue election by mail, might have been first in the country. Went from there to permanent absentee ballots, then a county option VBM in 2002. Within a few years, 38 of 39 counties had moved, so we passed legislation for whole state; 2010–2011 was first election. Then added drop boxes, came up with formula, finally two years ago we got to prepaid postage for VBM. Movement by a number of people, started referring to requirement to pay for stamps as a poll tax, redid formula so it’s funded.
What’s the difference between VBM and no-excuse absentee balloting (important for speaking to people in other states)?
In VBM everybody gets a ballot. In no-excuse absentee balloting, any voter can request — if they think of it, have resources, speak language, …
No-excuse is a good thing, but right now, reality is it disenfranchises people. SUch a change, they can’t handle mechanics.
Is New Mexico’s approach of mailing applications to everybody helpful?
It’s a step in the right direction, but how quickly do you look at snail mail? So I have concerns. A ballot is pretty obvious
Lots of complications for states that haven’t done this before
Which terminology should we use to advocate with?
Advocating for full vote by mail, if possible. We talk about “removing obstacles”. Make it as safe as possible. Best way is VBM, no-excuse absentee ballots is second. Some states are calling it “vote at home”
Benefits of Vote By Mail
How good is our system compared to other states who have VBM?
All of our systems are great, other states are good too. With the process we have — ballot check, and if your signature isn’t on the envelope or recognized the county auditor has to contact you and you have the opportunity to come in and fix it. Virtually no instances of voter fraud. Other than North Carolina! Before VBM, already had a large number of people voting by mail; in 2004, 3 recounts, only a handful of votes thrown out — mostly people who didn’t understand that they were on probation and so weren’t eligible.
Does Vote by Mail favor one party?
Kathy: New study, article in the Washington Post, VBM doesn’t favor one party or the other.
Sam: Utah’s Republican, votes by mail, Dems haven’t taken over yet.
Is Washington’s VBM system consistent across the state?
To our knowledge it is consistent, based on state law. Earlier it was per-county, which casued some problems. One difference today is that in some counties that are heavily rural areas, if they wait till the last minute need to use drop boxes. There are cultural differences too, some cultures don’t use signatures. One problem I heard of was, a case with curing ballots in a small town, if your last name sounded Latinx, more likely to have signature challenged.
How does VBM affect voter turnout numbers?
Washington has had increased turnout, we’re constantly among the top 2 or 3 states. Our presidential primary had the highest presidential turnout of any in the country. Other changes we’ve made also assist this — voter registration, election day registration, “Access to Democracy” package. Hard to know how much is due to VBM
Hard to compare one election to another, need longitudinal studies.
Here’s a 2016 study on the effects in Utah.
How do we know our votes are secure?
What are the mechanisms for checking that our individual vote is counted?
Can go to county auditor. Go to votewa.gov, it says register to vote, once you put in your information, you can track by ballot. Can do this after election day.
Jon: we did a poll in the Indivisible Plus: Washington Facebook group during the March presidential primary and I was surprised what a really high percentage of people had checked their ballots
What’s the reality of the accusations of fraud and cheating? Please provide us with talking points to counter these negative messages.
There’s a number of studies — Pew Center. Ask for the proof … there is none! Made up out of whole cloth, just a specious argument.
No reason to think there’s more vulnerability … safer, because they’re checking signatures. And when you’re voting with machines, I have to trust the machines, I have to trust the people who wrote the software.
Vote by Mail in other States
What are key features that vote by mail and/or absentee ballot programs other states need to have?
Equipment and expertise, planning time — can’t just send out ballots and hope it works. Ideal to try it out in advance on local elections.
How much lead time might it take for a state to implement or add to its mail ballots program?
It’s pushing it to start even now. Everything is possible, if there’s enough time and money. If there’s not enough time, need more money, that’s why it’s so important to fund it. Very proud of our Secretary of State on this, she’s out advocating with other states.
Activism and Advocacy
Why should this be a priority issues in 2020?
The thing to focus on this year is eliminating barriers to voting by mail. Wish we’d started sooner, but some states have the capability — WI for example is very close, handling over a million ballots. In some states, you have to have a reason to request absentee, get a witness to sign before it can be recognized. In TX, a federal judge ruled that people can vote absentee, SoS is fighting it,
Which states are worth putting our effort into? Which are likely to make changes for 2020?
Several states currently require excuses.
Legislatures aren’t in session, makes it harder
How can we advocate effectively?
Reach out to everybody you know in states that don’t have it. Don’t assume people will be against it! A plug for the League — reaching out to specific states. Public messaging — letters to the editor, social media.
Q & A
Is the US Postal Service necessary for vote by mail.
Yes
How much should be included in the next Covid relief bill for safe, free and fair elections?
$4B for security and access
At the Congressional level, is vote by mail even possible?
It’s difficult. It’s atat least a month away. If it’s signed in June, maybe could have an impact on the November election
No-excuse absentee ballot can be done, might mean we don’t see results on election night. Whatever the mechanism is, voter outreach is key! This is how you request an absentee ballot, this is what you need to do, multiple group.
We know that voter suppression is rampant in many states. Should we worry that some states will implement vote by mail in a way that increases the potential for voter suppression?
Yes. Always have to be worried, can’t think of how, need to look at it.
All sorts of sneaky ways … key thing in WA, have the ballots *postmarked* by election day, not due. Fully 50% postmarked the last two days. That’s the gold standard, some states will be stricter — received by election day.
Voter education is key. We don’t like that rule, but whatever the rule that’s in place in a state, have to tell people about it.
What are your opinions of online petition signature gathering (see petition here)
There’s a group talking about it, the League has no position. Don’t think it’s an option in WA for this year (others may disagree). Worth looking at, was talking with Zach Hudgins, he had a bill a few years ago. Hudgins’ bill would have allowed electronic signatures in person — if you have a grocery store. Not likely this year. Have to check signatures etc.
If counties use automated systems to check signatures, how is it that people with Hispanic-sounding names had their signatures challenged more often? Is there bias in signature-checking software?
Don’t know if that’s the case. Initially it goes through an automated process, then checked manually
Regarding making sure the states do a dry run before moving to Vote By Mail, does the absentee ballot system constitute a dry run, or is the issue more about capacity than process experience?
Depends on jurisdiction. Oregon jumped into it, we took a slow phased approach, CA’s doing the same, can be very difficult depending on what machinery you have … how will ballots get counted.
Where do you get the specific instructions for each county in a state so you can give that Absentee ballots info to the voters in that state?
My hope would be that they don’t vary county by county, the good news is there will be a lot of orgs watching what’s happening in every state — and the parties. 866ourvote.org has per-state information.
I’m wondering about college students. Is there any data on vote by mail being more difficult for transient populations (no permanent address), etc.?
Something we did this year in bill with automatic pre-registration, require each of the major universities have an elections hub on their campuses to help college students vote, help them download a ballot
That’s one of the beauties of same-day registration, they can legally register where they are, and print out a ballot.
