As Dems push mail-in voting, Black and Latino voters wary

[brooklynite]

Politico

Democrats' push to promote mail-in voting this fall could be undermined by an important fact: Some of their key constituencies don't trust it.

Black and Latino voters consistently voice more discomfort and uncertainty about voting by mail, even as a majority of Democrats overall say they plan to cast absentee ballots this fall, according to polling and focus groups. Generating overwhelming margins and turnout among both groups is a key to victory for Joe Biden in November, and Democrats don’t want to lose any votes by suggesting that mail voting is the only proper way to cast a ballot in the general election.

In a series of recent focus groups conducted in Philadelphia and Las Vegas by iVote — a Democratic group focused on voting rights and secretaries of state — and shared with POLITICO, Black and Latino voters said the experience of voting in person “has been ingrained and they feel secure their vote will be counted,” according to the report summary.

The findings are bolstered by a pair of recent polls from the Voter Participation Center, in partnership with Latino Decisions and the African American Research Collaborative, which showed that nearly two-thirds of Latino and Black voters prefer to vote in person because “they believe their vote is more likely to be counted than if they vote by mail.”

[samnsara]

1. if anyone can safely and comfortably vote in person they should..

..instead of not voting at all. Also we get in person counts quicker.

[LisaL]

2. Vote safely in person during a pandemic? Is that even possible?

[brooklynite]

4. Do you consider going to the supermarket unsafe?

People do it every day.

[LisaL]

6. No, I don't consider it safe which is why I don't go to a supermarket.

People might do it every day, I don't. Some people did get covid this way.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. What are their suspicions based on?

That their votes will be disposed of? If they live in cities, likely they have democratic machines running them. And those machines would protect their votes in the counties, also likely run by Democrats. (I live near Paterson, NJ. That's certainly how it is here.)

[LisaL]

5. Mail in ballots are rejected in higher rates because

mistakes made on the ballot can get the ballot invalidated. Even things like signature matching-many people don't sign exactly the same way each time. I personally would have preferred to vote in person if it wasn't for a pandemic.

[no_hypocrisy]

13. I'm a poll worker. I think we only gave a provisional ballot b/c of a non-matching signature

one time. I can't see that with mail-in ballots the same ratio of rejected ballots would apply.

But to your point, if you vote in person, you at least get a second chance with a provisional ballot. Unless you check to see if your mail-in ballot was rejected, you don't necessarily get a provisional ballot or a second chance to vote.

[brooklynite]

7. People here raise the same fears...

[uponit7771]

12. 500,000 votes rejected because they were delivered late by post office

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rejected-mail-ballots/2020/08/23/397fbe92-db3d-11ea-809e-b8be57ba616e_story.html%3foutputType=amp

[Iliyah]

8. Well shit, look at what is happening with USPS . . .

Personally, last week, mail delivery missed 3 days . . .

The problem with in person is . .. . will the voting machines in blue areas be compromised and polling stations be few, and will the ballots be counted.

A few organizations are stepping up to secure in person polling areas.

t-rump and his criminal party will do everything possible to steal this election.

[enough]

9. Not too surprising that anyone would have doubts about it by this time. NT

[dansolo]

10. The answer is longer early voting

People should be able to vote in person if they prefer and there is no excuse for people having to wait in line for hours to vote.

[Hoyt]

11. Great, voting system has been undermined by constant criticism of postal system over past 2 weeks.

[Phoenix61]

14. If they live in Florida they should be.

Florida has a good early voting system so it’s not too hard to find a place/time without a line.