In 2020, election protection demands as many voting stations and drop boxes as possible, with as much early voting as can be made available.
Early in-person voting shrinks dependence on the USPS and uncertainty about whether ballots will actually arrive on time to be counted. It also helps avoid overcrowding and long lines on November 3.
Team Trump opposes neighborhood voting centers, drop boxes, and vote by mail, aiming to pinch voter turnout. (Voter ID requirements are also used to prevent non-millionaires of youth and color from voting.)
Ohio's 2020 primary featured a single election center for each of the state's 88 counties. In Franklin County (Columbus; pop. 1.3 million) it was in an abandoned Kohl's department store in a remote, hard-to-find corner of Columbus. There were no drop boxes. Long lines (mostly in cars) built up through election day with voters trying to drop off their ballot or to obtain one. (Rural counties in Ohio had no such problems). On August 12, Ohio's secretary of state ruled each Ohio county, no matter how big, would have just one ballot dropbox (he's being sued).
Numerous safe, accessible election centers with ample parking must begin to operate well before November 3. Downtown sports arenas could be ideal.
8. Chain of custody
Tens of millions of paper VBM ballots will arrive at election boards, voting centers, and drop boxes this fall. There are always those who'd steal, destroy, corrupt them.
So they can't be thrown around. Drop boxes demand cameras. Voting centers demand 24/7 security. Official results cannot be entrusted to laptops or thumb drives. Tally tapes must be posted in public as quickly as possible. Digital images must be preserved.
All votes cast, mailed, dropped must be protected, preserved, and properly prepared for precise, reliable counting and re-counting.
Above all, we don't want them trashed, burned, pitched in rivers, or confiscated by armed troops deployed by the White House, all of which may take an EP army to prevent.
9. Voting centers, perhaps in sports arenas
Even with VBM, we still need well-advertised and convenient voting centers, with big parking lots for drive-by drop-offs to deal with special needs, registration issues, not having received a ballot, etc.
Well before election day, at universally known voting centers, citizens should be able to pick up and/or drop off ballots, register, consult with poll workers to straighten out registration issues, etc.
Centers should be open and staffed with long hours of access to avoid long lines and to provide timely, accurate, friendly service.
If Trump does mobilize thousands of armed thugs, election protection activists must be at the voting centers to embrace them.
In response, the NBA Atlanta Hawks have volunteered their 21,000-seat arena. Voters can take a number, sit socially distanced, and see their turn on the scoreboard. Most stadia offer central, secure locations, with ample parking, restrooms, and food services.
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