For some reason Democrats have made voting by mail one of their top policy concerns, haranguing anyone who even raises reasonable questions about that practice. Ironically, African Americans and Latinos, two key Democratic voting blocks, are generally suspicious of voting by mail—and with good reason.
On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the media, “We take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. And sadly, the domestic enemies to our voting system and our honoring of the Constitution are right at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with their allies in the Congress of the United States.”
So Republicans are “enemies of the state” if they have concerns about voting by mail? Are Blacks and Hispanics also enemies of the state, because they too have concerns?
A new iVote Qualitative Research Summary conducted with Black and Hispanic men and women (ages 25-74) from August 6-7 found, “Voters prefer going to the polls because the experience has been ingrained and they feel secure their vote will be counted. This is especially true among African Americans.”
And they’re right! According to the Washington Post, “More than 534,000 mail ballots were rejected during primaries across 23 states this year—nearly a quarter in key battlegrounds for the fall—illustrating how missed delivery deadlines, inadvertent mistakes and uneven enforcement of the rules could disenfranchise voters and affect the outcome of the presidential election.”
And we’re not talking about a Republican vs. Democrat race. Those half-a-million rejected mail-in votes were in primaries, where it is usually Republican vs. Republican and Democrat vs. Democrat.
Black and Hispanic reluctance is understandable. For decades, both groups, but especially Black voters, faced huge, and sometimes insurmountable, obstacles to voting. Being concerned that their mail-in vote might get lost, challenged or disqualified isn’t unreasonable.
The good news is that many of those polled recognize that in most cases they can vote in-person early, when lines tend to be short and the possible exposure to Covid-19 would be minimal.
iVote goes on to say, “For most participants, voting is voting in person. Positive feelings about voting are tied to the physical act.” And, “Several African American voters say voting in person honors the work and sacrifice of others before them.”
Exactly. And given those sentiments, it is very difficult to understand why Democrats are pushing so hard to encourage people to vote by mail.
August 25, 2020