Polls Show Americans Have Concerns About Voting By Mail–But They Have More Concerns About Voting In Person

TOPLINE

New polls show that most Americans have concerns about privacy and vote tampering with regards to mail-in voting, but still see it as a safer and preferable alternative to voting in person.

KEY FACTS

Big Number

71. Safety concerns about voting in person are not unfounded. At least 71 people who went to the polls in the Wisconsin primary in April contracted coronavirus.

Surprising fact

Despite Trump’s steadfast criticism of voting by mail, he and many members of his staff have themselves voted by mail. Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Attorney General William Barr, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and 11 other Trump family members, White House staffers and campaign advisors have all reportedly sent in mail-in and absentee ballots in recent years.

Key Background

Numerous analyses of mail-in voting cast significant doubt on Trump’s claims of widespread fraud. A New York Times analysis debunked several assertions that Trump has made about the ease of tampering with mail-in ballots, such as that signatures can be easily forged, that ballots can be illegally printed and that people can steal and hijack ballots from mailboxes.

News Peg

Voting by mail has been and will continue to be a critical feature of elections during the coronavirus pandemic. Mail-in voting has been expanded in 34 states, with California going as far as to send mail-in ballots to all voters, making it the 6th state to do so.