General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Key swing state warns of November election 'nightmare' [View all]FakeNoose
(32,356 posts)That's what is different about the 2020 election. There will be so many mailed-in votes that are NOT absentee. The voters are staying home rather than go to the polls because of the pandemic, or another reason.
In previous years voters had to QUALIFY for an absentee ballot for a specific reason - either you were traveling outside the state, or you were serving in the military, or you're a student at a far-away college, etc. Voters who qualified needed to apply for the absentee ballot 30 or 60 days in advance, and they had a certain window in which to mail back their ballots. The rules were so arcane and tricky so that many of the ballots could be discounted/disqualified if it turned out to be an embarrassing loss for the incumbents.
Absentee ballot management has not been a pretty story in the USA over the last 100 years. Many of those absentee ballots were ignored, lost or mishandled. All THAT needs to change! The tsunami of mailed-in ballots this year are finally shining a bright spotlight on how the local election boards are handling the entire situation in each county and each state.
Your comment about Ohio may have been true until this year - but I'm sure it's going to change, or it already has changed.