Exerptts:
California is notoriously slow counting all the ballots and calling final election results. This November will likely take even more time with a record avalanche of mail ballots expected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While it’s still seven weeks until Election Day, that’s the message officials are already trying to get out in hopes of avoiding confusion and concern among voters.
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As half or more of the 2020 presidential election’s votes will be cast on mailed-out ballots, a new study on why absentee ballots were rejected in three urban California counties in 2018 reveals why young voters’ ballots were rejected at triple the rate of all voters.
Nationally, it is well known that absentee ballots arriving after state deadlines, problems with a voter’s signature on the return envelope not matching their voter registration form, or a missing signature account for more than half of all rejected ballots, as the latest federal statistics affirm. But a new California Voter Foundation (CVF) study reveals the most likely causes behind those errors, especially for young voters.
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Young voters are more likely to have their mail ballots rejected than older voters, according to a study out Monday examining voting in Sacramento, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in the 2018 general election.
The research published by the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation highlights one of the greatest challenges for California's shift towards expanded vote-by-mail this election: the number of ballots that are returned, but not counted because they were mailed too late or lacked an accurate voter signature.
"One of the big changes of vote-by-mail is it shifts the responsibility for getting it right when we vote from the poll worker to the voter," said Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation.
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Americans may turn out in record numbers this election.
But breaking the U.S. record would still leave us far from the top compared to the world’s other democracies.
As it stands now, we’re not even particularly close when it comes to turnout.
In the last presidential election, a bit more than 55 percent of the voting-age population cast a ballot, well below the global leaders Belgium, Sweden, and Denmark – all around 85 percent.
The participation rates have long caught the interest of public officials – with the middling turnout pinned on the often cumbersome nature of voting, a lack of civic classes in the school curriculum, and even apathy.
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That is the theory in Los Angeles, where voting officials have spent the last decade revamping the way elections are done.
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Widely-shared posts on Instagram on Monday claimed California voters would be “turned away” from in-person polling places on Election Day unless they change their voting preference to “No mail-in voting.”
Election experts quickly rejected that message.
We examined the details in this fact check.
Our research
The social media posts include an image of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and allege he changed the voting preference for “EVERY single voter in CA” to “vote by mail.” It goes on to claim that this move will lead to people being turned away at polling places unless they make a change to their voter preference.
Excerpts:
Widely-shared posts on Instagram on Monday claimed California voters would be "turned away" from in-person polling places on Election Day unless they change their voting preference to "No mail-in voting."
Election experts quickly rejected that message.
We examined the details in this fact check.
Our research
The social media posts include an image of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and allege he changed the voting preference for "EVERY single voter in CA" to "vote by mail." It goes on to claim that this move will lead to people being turned away at polling places unless they make a change to their voter preference.
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With the 2020 election just over two months away, it’s time to start thinking about the logistics of voting. To make voting easier and safer during the pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill back in May to mail every active registered voter a ballot. But many voters have concerns, such as questions about signature requirements and how to cast a ballot if you’re experiencing homelessness or displacement and don’t have a mailing address. These issues are compounded by the pressure put on the already-struggling U.S. Postal Service to handle an expected record number of mail-in ballots. We’ll answer your questions on how to vote this November.
Guest: Kim Alexander, president and founder, California Voter Foundation
(Full Audio)
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When it comes to mail ballots, it’s not fraud that vexes election officials. It’s human nature.
People procrastinate.
That’s a problem as California prepares amid the COVID-19 pandemic to mail a ballot to every registered voter in the state for November’s presidential election.
The ballots go out the week of Oct. 5 and have to be returned by Election Day, Nov. 3. Some people who wait until the last minute think that means they’re OK if they put it in a mailbox on that date. But that’s not the rule.
Ballots have to be postmarked by Election Day, and they have to arrive no later than 17 days after that date at the county Registrar of Voters office or they won’t get counted.
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Description
With no end in sight for the Covid-19 pandemic, the November elections are shaping up to be an unprecedented test of the nation’s voting system. So, on this edition of KCBS In Depth, as election officials surge vote by mail systems and harden polling places, we take a closer look at the effort to create a socially distanced election. Then in the second half we speak with a longtime election reform advocate about what voters need to know to make sure their votes do indeed get counted this fall.
Guests:
Nate Persily, a Stanford law professor, who earlier this year helped launch the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project
Kim Alexander, the president of the California Voter Foundation
Host: Keith Menconi
