Trump may block counting of mail-in ballots, say experts

Washington [US], Aug 18 : US President Donald Trump may try to block the counting of mail-in ballots, according to voting experts.
Trump has termed the mail-in voting system as fraud even as the Democrats back the system of voting by mail compared to Republicans, The Washington Post reported.
Election officials are expecting a tremendous rise in voting by mail -- including in Washington region -- as people are afraid to go out and vote during a pandemic. Counting of mail-in ballots takes more time to be counted than those cast in person.
For instance, on the election day, initial returns based on in-person voting could show Trump winning, although a large number of mailed ballots remain uncounted. Experts warn that Trump could declare himself as the winner, asserting that mailed ballots should be ignored due to the risk of significant fraud.
In states where Republicans control the voting process, he might get away with it, according to the report.
"It is possible that he will say, 'We should stop counting ballots because all those absentee ballots are illegitimate,' " said Trevor Potter, president of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center.
"If his supporters believe that, it would be false but unfortunate in terms of the country accepting the credibility of the final election results," Potter added.
Wendy Weiser, vice president of the Brennan Center's Democracy Programme, said that such a "nightmare scenario" is a risk.
"It is absolutely to be expected that most of the votes will be cast by mail" and take days to count. It is really important that the public is educated beforehand about the facts of what's going to occur," Weiser was quoted as saying.
Local and state officials face a huge challenge in preparing the public to vote in a pandemic. With the coronavirus disrupting logistics, the Trump administration is reluctant to provide financial support and appears intent on making the situation worse.
Last Thursday, Trump had said he opposes both election aid for states and an emergency bailout for the US Postal Service as he wants to limit how many American voters can cast their ballot by mail.
The agency has warned 46 states, including Maryland and Virginia and DC that voters could be disenfranchised as it cannot deliver mailed ballots in time to meet counting deadlines.
"I am very concerned, as we have a historic confluence of dangers here. We have massive absentee balloting in states that are not used to that. You have postal problems when absentee balloting relies on that. These are all issues, combined with the possibility that normal polling places may not be able to open (because of the pandemic) or maybe moved," Potter said.
Weiser said, "Our election infrastructure has not been built for elections during a pandemic... It's not that it's rocket science. There is just a lot of choke points in the process that need to be shored up."
In Maryland and Virginia, handling of votes by mail is labour intensive. Voters should first submit applications for ballots (by mail or online) and mail the ballots or deposit them in drop boxes or at voting offices. In several instances, counting mail-in votes should be done by hand.
At a briefing last week, Deputy Election Director Alysoun McLaughlin told the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) that Montgomery County has seen "an extremely high pickup" in voting by mail,
"We are seeing vote-by-mail requests that far exceed previous elections and even our highest estimates for the upcoming election," Loudoun Deputy Registrar Richard Keech told the COG.
Loudoun has received 22,000 applications for ballots, compared to around 4,000 it sent out in 2016 in its first mailing in September. "We fully expect to mail at least 40,000 ballots in our first mailing and potentially 100,000 or more throughout this season," Keech was quoted as saying.
According to John W Farrell, a Fairfax attorney who specialises in election law, Fairfax County needed about 1,800 election officers in the June primary and around 600 dropped out late in the process, The Washington Post reported.
"We are going to need 3,200 to 3,600 in November. There is a real question where we are going to get the other several thousand people," Farrell said.
Emily Scarr, the director of Maryland Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), said that a large-scale training programme is urgently required because of the loss of "the most seasoned and experienced election staff."