On Monday, in the Spy, I wrote an op-ed urging Governor Hogan to mail ballots directly to all Maryland voters for the presidential election in November.
I thought that would be a no-brainer. After all, Hogan had mailed ballots to all voters in last month’s primary election.
Instead, for the general, the governor said he would open all polling places on election day and during and the early voting period. Rather than mailing voting actual ballots to voters, he said he would mail voters them applications for absentee ballots.
During a television appearance this week, Governor Hogan doubled down on his decision: “Tens of thousands of people showed up at polls that weren’t open (during the primary),” he said. “The handful of polls that were open were overcrowded, and it was suppressing people’s vote because they had to wait in line for four hours.
It is true that fewer polling places were open for the primary because, in the midst of the pandemic, heavy on-sight voting was unsafe for voters and poll workers.
But Hogan’s defense seems to me to miss the point. I’m all for the governor trying to open as many polling places as he can safely in November, though, realistically, there are likely to be many fewer open polling places than in a normal pre-pandemic election.
That’s because of a shortage of both polling places and poll workers. Fearing another coronavirus increase, many privately-owned polling places have already pulled out of the election, and, as of right now, one-third of poll worker slots are unfilled.
To me the real issue is that the governor making voting by mail harder than it was in the primary. Why add an extra step to the vote by mail process? Why make voters fill out extra forms and make election officials process them, as an additional step, before mail-in ballots can be cast?
The issue can’t be the integrity of the state’s voting lists. If the lists are good enough to mail all voters absentee ballot applications, they should be good enough to mail them ballots. Besides, I’d hope state election officials have worked diligently during the past six weeks to clean up errors in the voting lists they found during the primary.
With coronavirus cases rising again throughout the state, Hogan’s decision just doesn’t make sense – unless he wants to suppress the vote by forcing more Marylanders to risk their lives going to the polls by making it harder to vote by mail.
Al From is an adjunct professor at the Krieger School at Johns Hopkins University. He is founder of the Democratic Leadership Council and author of The New Democrats and the Return to Power, featured in the documentary film, Crashing the Party.
James Moran says
Al From has a bad idea. If people are afraid they are risking their lives by going to polling places, heaven help them. How do they currently get food and other necessities?
If indeed there are some that fear for their lives then they should sign up for a mail-in or absentee ballot. That process is available now and it’s fast and easy. Mr. From’s problem is solved.
It’s odd to me that the vote is so sacred that at a polling place there has to be Democrat and Republican judges present to oversee every vote cast and to carefully make sure votes get delivered to central election offices. A pair of party-affiliated judges looks over every voter’s signature and address to ensure that the voter is registered. Would Mr From forego these kinds of safeguards or would he assign a pair of election judges to accompany postal employees on their rounds on all days that mail-in votes could be cast?
The Covid 19 virus is bad but it’s not so bad that people are fearing their lives when they step out their homes.
Barbara Perry says
I absolutely agree with Al From and I actually wrote to Governor Hogan’s office expressing very similar concerns along with suggestions. Less than one hour after sent my email to Hogan’s office, I got back a canned “thank you for contacting us” email that did not address any of my concerns. I know we will have a shortage of judges and for Hogan to say that state workers can fill in for the shortages, in unrealistic. And what happens when an elderly (which is the majority of election judges) judge just wakes up on election day and is too scared to work and calls in? We need the ballots, not the application for the ballots, to be mailed out like was done in the primary and figure out now just how many polling places, by county, really must be open on election day.
Linda Hamilton says
It’s an extra form, that’s all. No big deal. This appears to be only an issue for you, not the rest of us. Governor Hogan has it right.
Mona Curry says
An application for an application to vote makes NO sense what so ever!! I am usually with Hogan but he is wrong on this issue.
Michael Estrella says
A number of years ago I had an opportunity to review the voter registration list as part of an effort to take a candidate door to door to meet the public. What became painfully obvious was that, in many cases, the list did not match reality. Knocking on a door expecting to meet Mr. Smith, we found it was Mrs. Jones instead. Sometimes we found out that Mr. Smith was no longer with us or had moved years ago but, often as not, no one remembered any Mr. Smith at all.
It is known that voter registration lists around this nation aren’t all that accurate and need work. The Governor’s plan to allow us to vote by mail by simply be filling out an absentee ballot form will prevent mailing out ballots to non-existent voters and thus reduce any exposure to possible fraud. If the data bases were better maintained, I believe we could mail a ballot to everyone, but, the data bases don’t really represent the electorate at anywhere near 100% yet. I believe Hogan’s method is the correct approach for the overall situation.
Mike Estrella
St. Michaels
Alan Boisvert says
Many states solely vote by mail in. It can be done. This is NOT rocket science. We know some people that go to the polls will get sick or make others sick. Some might die. Is this the legacy Hogan wants to leave? Shame on Hogan. He is showing his true colors.