Abilene Times

With the upcoming election growing ever closer, concerns continue to circulate not just about fraud in a universal mail-in election, but the potential that delays in the mail system, inaccuracies in the voter rolls and limitations faced by the county officials who will have to both verify and count every single ballot will leave the election open to elder abuse, missed votes, and endless legal challenges even after a vote count that could stretch on for weeks.

Winston T. Ohlhausen, Taylor County Republican Party chair, told the Abilene Times that he is absolutely opposed to universal mail-in voting, and thinks even absentee voting needs to be restricted.

“It can be too easy to be abused,” he said.

While some states began testing the waters during the primary elections, CNET reports that the results have been “mixed.”

Pennsylvania saw vote-counting still going on a week after the primary, despite the primaries always having fewer voters than the general election, CNET reported. Georgia also experienced delays added to by the lack of sufficient staff to handle new procedures. New York, which saw mail-in ballots multiplied by approximately 10 times what is normal for a primary election, officials were still counting over a month after the election, CNET reported.

Additionally, depending on mail-in voting without permitting anyone to show up on election day and cast a vote in person could mean some are robbed of their right to vote, according to CNET’s reporting. The National Conference of State Legislators recently showed that not just those who move frequently, but those such as rural residents who live without a regular street address may never even receive the opportunity to vote in a universal mail-in election.

And, while states that have used mail-in voting have spent years preparing to even handle the fraction of votes that typically are received by mail, and could still face logistical problems, other states would be forced to play catch-up and create and implement an entire process in only a handful of months, according to CNET.

Eric Smith, Chambers County Republican Party chair, told the North Coastal News that he has worked as an election official in the past, and seen how many clerical issues have to be cleared up at the polls.

“I have been an election judge for many years and always have voters show up who have not updated their registration or let their registration expire,” he said. “It's very hard to keep up the voter rolls.”

While it’s possible that some smaller states with more centralized populations would have some chance of effectively conducting a mail-in election, Smith said the task could prove to be impossible for a state the size of Texas. Most of all, though, he is concerned about safeguarding a fair and equitable election, he said.

“My concern here is voter fraud. If I have info on the former resident of an address, I could steal their vote,” he said. “I could do the same to other residents, such as elderly family. Frankly, I feel absentee ballots needs to be scaled back. With early voting, very few people would be away during an election.”