Voting By Mail Receives New Scrutiny During Pandemic

As the country braces for record-setting mail-in ballots in November, the practice and the U.S. Postal Service itself are being carefully scrutinized.

Voting by mail has been a feature of American politics since the Civil War. But there are downsides: administrative challenges, effectively and consistently evaluating ballots, plus the limitations of the postal service itself. 

Wake Forest University Associate Professor Justin Esarey says historically it's been quite reliable, but we're living in unprecedented times, with potentially hundreds of thousands of ballots arriving at individual processing centers needing to be postmarked and delivered on time.

"That part of it is a bit of a new concern," says Esarey. "The state processing end of it is something that also is a concern because if they have a gigantic avalanche of ballots coming in, even with a good postal service, they're going to have to deal with that. And there's probably going [to] be delays in counting in places where they're not used to that volume."

Esarey adds that if the U.S. Postal Service is given what it needs, and the public recognizes that election returns may not be available on the evening of November 3, everything should work out in the end.

"If we don't have those things, there could be issues," he says. "If we're demanding results by 11 p.m. on election night, or if the postal service literally can't get ballots in and out on time, then we might have a problem."

In North Carolina, a signed and completed State Absentee Ballot Request Form must be received by the county board of elections office no later than 5 p.m. on the Tuesday before the date of the election for which the ballot is being requested. Those received after the deadline will not be considered on time, regardless of the postmark date.