The Risks Outweigh the Benefits for Mail-In Balloting

Election day is just over six weeks out and ballots will be sent to Washoe voters starting this week. Unofficial results are expected on November 12^th, nine days after election day. As these timelines come into focus, I am increasingly concerned with Governor Sisolak’s move to use his emergency powers to force mail-in balloting. While mail-in balloting may seem just a matter of convenience, a deeper look exposes significant risks.

Let’s start with one of the avenues for potential abuse: coercion. There are several professions (Unions, Hollywood and Academia are good examples) where Democrats form an overwhelming majority. In such cases, Republicans, who often are less than a quarter of the population, keep their political affiliations private to avoid confrontation, and in some cases retribution. Most unions endorse candidates and set up phone banks to call their members. Imagine a situation where a union boss calls for a “voting party” where everyone gets together and fills out the ballots as a group activity. Do we really believe that the minority (Republicans in this example) should be subjected to peer pressure while filling out their ballot and voting for Trump or other Republicans? The element of secrecy which cannot be broken with in-person voting, can be breached easily with mail-in ballots.

In this political climate, it may be easy for Democrats to think this is a competitive advantage over Republicans. No advantage (in politics, sports or business) is sustainable for long. It is just a matter of time before the other side catches up. Once a weapon such as the one described above is unveiled, it is just a matter of time before the other side deploys it. How would Democrats like Republicans gathering at businesses with “voting parties” to fill out ballots? Would you as a Democrat be comfortable voting for a Democrat candidate when your boss, who signs your paycheck, is hovering over you? Forget Republicans, how about the Bernie-wing of the Democrat party convening a “voting party” to suppress the support of the moderate Democrats in the 2022 primary? My friend Dave Espinosa goes into deeper detail on this topic in his article, “Assembly Bill 4: The End of The World As We Know It” at Sagebrushwire.com.

The next major area of concern is the delay in the announcement of election results. Historically, with few exceptions, we have always seen networks declare the winner of Presidential election the same night. This was possible because of the relatively few absentee ballots in critical swing states. With mail-in ballot, there will be a much higher proportion of ballots coming in through the mail, which can be postmarked on election day and delivered several days later. This means that election results will be delayed by several days. Add to it the rejected ballots and the challenges to the rejected ballots by armies of attorneys already assembled on both sides, it is conceivable that we may not have a result by inauguration day, January 20^th, let alone the Constitutionally mandated December deadline for Electoral College.

One final point: This nation is already a tinder box with riots. For most part, the recent riots have been one-sided, with no counter-balancing force. If election results are delayed by a significant amount of time, I wouldn’t be surprised if both parties take to the streets making the situation from the past few months look like minor league incidents. The mail-in ballots for Nevada and other states are highly risky partisan moves that go to the heart of the integrity of elections and the reasonably quick declaration of results. The risks clearly outweigh the benefits.