Many Americans may be prevented from voting in the US presidential election. Right now, polling stations are being eliminated throughout the country, which is a concern in the legal community.
This is reported on Monday, April 20, by the Associated Press.
The coronavirus epidemic in the United States today took the lives of 41 thousand Americans. The total number of cases exceeded 770 thousand. This factor has become a good justification for officials to revise democratic ideals.
For example, in Nevada only one polling station will be open at the June primaries. A similar situation is in the state of Florida. At the same time, in Ohio, the authorities allowed only disabled and homeless people to vote personally. All this is preparation for a large-scale transition to voting by mail. Now officials are actively promoting precisely this method of voting, as the only one that can impede the spread of coronavirus.
Lawyers, assessing the situation, argue that the preparation is going so fast that many controversial issues are simply not taken into account. Many categories of citizens will remain without a chance to make a choice.
“Not everyone can or should vote by mail”, – said Stacy Abrams, the head of the Honest Struggle organization and former Georgia governor candidate.
It is noteworthy that the criticism comes from the Democrats. They even went to court, demanding $2 billion to help states adjust their electoral systems.
“Any reduction in access by reducing polling stations or anything else should be avoided as much as possible”, – Terry Rizzo, head of the Florida Democratic Party cell, says.
At the same time, Republicans, like Donald Trump himself, are sabotaging the opponents’ plans. The President, in particular, argues that voting by mail will not be an occasion for fraud.
According to experts, personal voting eliminates a number of elementary problems that will inevitably arise during absentee voting. So, people who fail to submit an application for voting by mail on time will not be able to vote at all. In addition, the envelope with the ballot can be easily lost.
“There will be people who will be deprived of their right to vote if they fully switch to the postal voting system”, – the Center for American Progress warns.
The media cited the situation faced by a resident of Cleveland, Katie Brickner. Her absentee ballot by mail was returned, as the water somehow damaged the front of the envelope at the post office.
“I will not have a vote in the elections, and this is very important for me this year”, – Katie Brickner says.