The 2020 US Elections has witnessed record voter turnout with people coming out in huge numbers to cast their ballots despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Videos of voting lines stretching up to multiple city blocks have gone viral on social media.
In 20 states which report voting according to party affiliation, 45.6% Democrats and 30.3% Republicans have cast their vote so far. Crucially, 23.4% of voters with no part affiliation have also cast their vote. What this means to the chances of Donald Trump or Joe Biden is still yet to be known.
According to US Elections Project, a voting datahub managed by University of Florida professor Michael McDonald, over 91 million people have voted as of November 1. This represents 67.7% of the total votes cast in the 2016 election. CNN reported that Texas and Hawaii have already surpassed the number of votes which were cast in 2016 with voting on election day still left.
With a day to go for Election Day, we try to break down how the US voting system works.
How do Americans vote?
There are two ways in which US citizens can vote in a general election - in person and through absentee or mail-in ballot. The US also allows voters to vote weeks before Election Day through mail-in ballots and in-person voting.
Unlike India, voters in America do not require a voter id card to vote. 36 states mandate some form of identification card to be shown at the polling place. This can include driving licenses, passports and utility bills. In 14 states, no id is required with voters being verified through their signatures.
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How does early voting function?
With election day not being a holiday, many voters have to take time off their work to vote or have to rely on their employers granting them time off. With voting lines lasting hours, this results in loss of wages which affects impoverished voters the most. Early voting allows voters to plan ahead and cast their ballot on their day offs. 43 states and the District of Columbia allow early voting with some states allowing early voting as early as 45 days before election day. Early voting periods have an average length of 19 days and can range from four days to 45 days.
Absentee voting, which is valid in all 50 states, essentially allows voters to vote-by-mail without providing any reason as to why they can't vote in person. Military personnel as well as overseas registered voters can also vote via absentee ballots. Voters need to send their absentee and mail-in ballots to the local election office before the cut-off time.
What is the difference between absentee voting and vote-by-mail?
In the months before the election, the Trump campaign has repeatedly cast doubts over voting by mail alleging that it can lead to widespread voter fraud. At the same time, Trump has claimed that absentee voting is safer than even in-person voting. However, there is very little difference between mail-by-vote and absentee voting.
Essentially, with vote-by mail, states send every registered voter their ballots by mail. On the other hand, voters are required to apply for a ballot to vote in absentia. While all 50 states allow absentee voting, the states of Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington witness voting done almost entirely through mail. In addition to these five states, California, Nevada, New Jersey and Vermont have also allowed vote-by-mail in the November 3 elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Voters in these states can also vote in-person on election day.
In 34 states and Washington DC, voters can apply for an absentee ballot without providing any reason. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of states have automatically sent every registered voter an absentee ballot.
However, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas still require voters to provide a valid excuse to be eligible to vote via an absentee ballot. Each state has a different set of valid excuses to request an absentee ballot. These can be viewed here.
Is vote-by mail susceptible to fraud?
Experts say that the potential for voter fraud via mail-in ballot is low as it undergoes the same verification process as in-person votes. Voters have to sign on their ballot envelope or affidavit while returning their mail-in ballot.
In 31 states, polling officials verify the signature on the ballot envelope with a signature that is already on record while officials in six states and Washington DC only verify if a ballot has been signed. Eight states require the signature of a witness or a notary too.
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How does in-person voting work?
A majority of voting is still done with pen and paper ballots in America. Votes are then tabulated either by hand or through optical scanning machines.
Almost all counties have electronic voting systems called Ballot-Marking Devices (BMD) in place to help people with disabilities vote by themselves. Voters can cast their ballot digitally and print out a paper ballot which they then can cast in the ballot box. Alternately, voters can also 'auto-cast' their vote on the machine without getting a paper printout.
Some states have also gotten Direct Recording Electronic systems (DRE). DREs allow voters to mark their ballots through touch screens or buttons with the vote being recorded into the computer's memory. Some DRE systems also have Voter-Verified Paper Audit Rail (VVPAT) printers which produce a paper trail that can be tabulated in case of a recount or an audit.
Is the US voting system susceptible to fraud?
While paper ballots and mail-in vote have witnessed fraudulent ballots being cast in rare occasions, experts have raised serious doubts about the safety systems in place for BMD systems. Philip B. Stark, Professor of Statistics at UC Berkeley has identified the potential of BMD systems to be hacked to cast fraudulent votes. Professor Stark found that some BMD machines can be hacked to cast fraudulent paper ballots when voters chose to vote by the 'auto-cast' function. Stark also found out that the machines get advance notice of which ballots will be cast via 'auto-cast' thus allowing it to mark the ballot fraudulently.
Moreover, should voters catch their votes being cast fraudulently, election officials have no way of verifying if the machine was hacked or if the voter made an error. To correct the error, a re-election would be called which will increase costs.
In the Republican gubernatorial primary race in Kansas in 2018, long lines were witnessed at one of the most-populous voting counties after the new BMD machines jammed leading to confusion among voters resulting in a delay in calling the election.