Tipsheet

Push for In-Person Voting Brings the Left and Right Together

Ellie Bufkin
Ellie Bufkin  |  September 24, 2020 4:55 PM

It seems that the Left and the Right can agree on nothing these days, and as the election draws ever closer hostility between both ideologies has reached a fever pitch. But there is one thing that both sides seem to have come to an agreement on: voting should be done in person. 

Initially, it was President Trump and Republicans who were blowing the whistle about the potential for voter fraud made possible by a huge increase in mailed ballots due to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Trump has said since the start of the pandemic that voting by mail opened up a huge door to election fraud. Cases of mail-in ballot fraud have since been recorded in primary and municipal elections in several instances. 

Several states, including California and Nevada, adopted a universal mail-out ballot policy that will simply mail a ballot to every person on their voter roll, regardless of whether they have moved, unregistered, or even died. Trump and his team have persistently pointed out how systems like this would undoubtedly cause massive problems come Election Day when many national and state-wide contests are in a tight race. 

Democrats continued to fight back on the issue, saying that Trump calling foul on mail-in ballots was an attempt to scare people (Democrats) into staying home and not voting. But as the deadline to make the choice about whether to vote from home or vote in person approaches, Democrats are singing a different tune. 

The seeds of change were planted weeks ago, but after Trump remarked on Wednesday that his concern over mail-in ballot fraud was great enough that he wouldn't commit to transferring power over to a Biden-Harris administration in January, Dems dumped mail-in ballots like a bad habit. 

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"VOTE IN PERSON" trended for hours on Twitter on Thursday, bringing voices from even the furthest-left faction of Democrats to encourage one another to make a plan to show up at their polling place in November. As left-wing magazine put it, "In-person voting is no more risky than going to the grocery store."

And for once, this new favorite tag-line of the Left will not find any opposition from the Right, who have been railing against the idea of mailed ballots since the very start of the pandemic. 

And the evidence that voting by mail is unsafe continues to pile up. On Tuesday, the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office in Wisconsin said they found three trays of discarded mail-in ballots in a ditch on the side of the road. 

As Katie reported today, a stack of mailed-in ballots in Luzerne County was found in the trash. Every one of those ballots was a vote for Donald Trump.