So on the topic of sudden universal vote-by-mail changes. I wrote this in response to another post, but I’ll put here it here as well.
Generally speaking, while I’m not against vote-by-mail, as I’m also a registered absentee voter, this could be a big mess for many voters who aren’t already voting absentee, and don’t already have their ducks in order.
California law requires that your signature on file match the signature on the envelope. Where the signature on file does not match the signature on the envelope, the vote will be rejected. This happened to Rushna because she recently updated her driver’s license, and her signature had changed enough for her ballot to be rejected.
When voting in person, you verbally identify your name at the beginning off a list of names they have, which they then cross off, are handed a ballot, and vote. If any issues do arise, and you can’t confirm your identity, you go home, get documentation, and try again. It’s resolved before you cast your ballot.
For possibly many whose signature on file may be old or outdated at the office, but who haven’t encountered that problem before because they’ve always voted in person, this may be a potential problem.
If you’re going to vote by mail and previously haven’t, I recommend re-registering and providing a fresh signature on the voter registration to avoid having your ballot rejected.
So again, while I’m not against vote-by-mail, this may cause issues on a large enough scale to matter that regular voting or even prior absentee voting may not.
Some additional context.
Universal absentee voting may actually benefit Trump.
“Analysis: Absentee ballots — which Democrats are pushing — get rejected at a higher rate than in-person votes.”