Sinclair Broadcast Group: Despite coronavirus complications, experts confident election will be safe and secure

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) — President Donald Trump renewed his complaints about the expected uptick in voting by mail this November due to the coronavirus outbreak Friday, as his prediction that the election would be “rigged” drew pushback from Democrats, experts, and even some Republicans. …

Cash-strapped states are grappling with unprecedented logistical challenges, including a massive increase in demand for absentee ballots and a shortage of poll workers and safe polling locations. House Democrats approved $3.6 billion for state and local governments to secure their election systems in the HEROES Act in May, but a Senate Republican stimulus proposal released this week makes no such provisions. …

With polls showing Democrats are more concerned about the dangers of the coronavirus than Republicans and far more likely to want to vote by mail, these challenges could leave presumptive Democratic nominee former Vice President Joe Biden at a disadvantage. Research published by the ACLU of Florida found young voters and voters of color are more likely to have their ballots rejected than other demographics and less likely to take steps to cure their ballots, and Biden is counting on support from both those groups to defeat Trump.

“Both the good and bad about our election system is that it is completely decentralized. Each state and each local jurisdiction can make the changes necessary to have safe, free, and fair voting in November…,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause. “We know how to do it. They just have to execute the plan.”

That plan, according to Albert, is to make sure voters have options to vote however they choose: providing multiple methods to register, to request absentee ballots, and to vote in person without putting their health at risk.

“The reality is none of us know what the world is going to look like Nov. 3, so we need to be prepared for whatever choices the voter makes,” she said.

All of these concerns combined with a growing likelihood that the winner of a close race would not be clear until days or weeks after Election Day could leave much of the country skeptical of the outcome, no matter who wins. President Trump insisted Thursday that the results must be known on the night of the election, but the expected reliance on voting by mail in many swing states could make that impossible. …

Amid the uncertainty, Albert said it incumbent on secretaries of state and election administrators to bolster the public’s faith in the nation’s voting systems. That includes preparing Americans for the prospect that the results of local and national elections will take much longer than usual to tabulate accurately.

“They’re all speaking with one voice about how they are making sure this election is free and fair and safe and secure,” she said. “It’s unfortunate others are using political gamesmanship to try to undermine voters’ confidence in the election.”