Reece Gardner: The challenge with requiring mail-in absentee ballots

I want to talk mainly today about the effort underway to increase the use of traditional mail-in absentee ballots, but first let's recognize Father's Day, which is on this coming Sunday, June 21. President Johnson became the first president to officially honor fathers in 1966, and six years later, in 1972, President Nixon successfully established Father's Day as a national holiday. 

I, like many of you, will be enjoying this occasion in the presence of our families. I feel so blessed to be able to celebrate this occasion with my precious daughter Jessica, her husband Bob, and granddaughter Rachel, and my wonderful Son Reece and granddaughter Tessa. On this, and on every day, let's count our blessings. Now, about mail-in absentee voting. Proponents of this effort insist that there is nothing new about absentee voting, and that is true. 

What is new is the effort by many, both on the state and federal levels, to get ballots into the hands of all registered voters, whether they ask for them or not. Gov. Newsome of California has already drawn up a plan to mail absentee ballots to all registered voters in California. This would undoubtedly make mail-in ballots susceptible to being stolen, altered, and forced. It could lead to intimidation and improper pressuring of voters, even in their homes. 

And it would allow candidates, campaign workers, party activists, and political consultants who have a stake in the outcome to pick up ballots from voters. Syndicated Columnist Marc Thiesen put it this way:  If mail-in ballots are adopted widely for the 2020 election, mass failures would be inevitable because about half the states have either no or extremely limited vote-by-mail options, and thus lack the experience or infrastructure for sending out, receiving or securing millions of mail-in ballots. 

We'd be conducting an experiment of unprecedented scale right in the middle of one of the most contentious elections in U.S. history. He then pointed this out:  "There is a huge difference between sending ballots to a small number of citizens who request them as opposed to requiring that they be mailed to every registered voter. Under that plan, ballots would inevitably be sent to wrong addresses or to inactive voters, putting millions of blank ballots into circulation." This approach is extreme, and it needs to be defeated. NC State law already allows any registered voter to cast a mail-in ballot. 

And now a bill making it easier for voters to request and receive absentee ballot forms has just been passed with overwhelming bipartisan support from the N.C. House and Senate. This bill is for 2020 only and is for the purpose of making it easier for people at higher risk from the coronavirus to vote absentee. It expands the options for registered voters to receive an absentee ballot request form by creating an online site to submit completed requests.

Also, instead of two witnesses to sign an envelope with a completed ballot, a voter will only need one this year. And again, the decision as to whether or not to vote absentee should remain in the hands of the voter, not the government.

Now to close on a humorous note:  Finding one of her students making faces at others on the playground, Ms. Smith stopped to gently reprimand the child. Smiling sweetly, she said:  "Johnny, when I was a little girl, I was told that if I made ugly faces, my face would freeze and stay like that." Little Johnny looked up and replied, "Well, Ms. Smith, you can't say you weren't warned."