I was going to start this letter by saying, “As we go to the polls to vote on the first Tuesday of next month …” But I quickly realized how incorrect that would be. Or non-inclusive.

The most recent statistics reveal that nearly one in three Americans, or a little over 31 percent, prefer to vote by mail. In California, of the 9, 446,461 people who voted in the June primary election, 8,446,060 of them voted by mail. So by the time the full-color flyers arrive showing us the candidates with their spouses, children and dogs, many will have already mailed in their ballots.

Adding to the uncertainty is that each one of our states has its own voter identification laws, and they need to be consulted if you want to know whether you’ll need to show an ID — and, if so, what kind. In some states, you may be required to show a photo ID (a driver’s license, for example) or a state ID or even a passport. Voters can be asked to show still another form of identification, like their birth certificates or Social Security cards.

Then, too, every state decides how it counts votes — and what works in one state might not work in another. While a heavily vetted, universal voting system might be best, people will still complain. And it won’t solve the biggest problem: getting people to vote in the first place.

Meanwhile, what happens after we cast our votes by mail, online (which is allowed in 31 states) or in person?

I cast my first ballot when I turned 18 and don’t recall there having been as many bipartisan allegations of voter fraud and lawsuits as have been made in the past two decades. It seems that recognizing something’s wrong with our elections may be the only thing that sworn enemies in both major political parties can agree on. 

I personally dislike voting machines. There’s been an incredible amount of discussion about the machines being connected to the internet, that votes have been mysteriously deleted and that piles upon piles of ballots have come into some voting areas weeks after the election period was over. Even if one of the voting machine manufacturers could convince me that the device is 99 percent accurate, I still wouldn’t care for them. Just the term “voting machine” implies we’ve ceded one of our greatest responsibilities, privileges and even joys to automation. 

I really like my life to be as natural as possible. I enjoy some aspects of technology, like my smartphone and computer. But voting in person and counting the ballots by hand would be a nice way to return to basics. I’m not pretending that hand-counting ballots is faster than machine-counting them. There’s too much evidence to the contrary. But to me, this is more of a belief that faster isn’t always better.

I know a lot of people vote in person because of the social aspect of it, since it provides them with a neighborhood “check-in.” And I know that the volunteers who hand-count ballots believe very strongly in their work. This is why they show up year after year and volunteer their time, homes, garages, libraries or churches as polling places. They like being part of the process. It gives them a sense of ownership, which all of us should feel for our country.

Voting machines can break down in mid-count. Human beings rarely do. Granted, the best place for hand-counting ballots may be in smaller jurisdictions with fewer items on the ballot. But the irony is that in those places, a 75 percent or higher voter turnout isn’t unusual. Whereas in the last Sacramento County election on June 2 of this year (the statewide primary), fewer than half of registered voters exercised their right to do so (404,964 out of 917,930 people participated).

Everyone should feel it’s a privilege to vote. I know a couple of people who feel voting makes no difference because cheating is rampant. Others believe that people who aren’t citizens of this country are voting. And I was talking to someone who suggested that it may not be as clear as it needs to be in the Constitution that “only citizens are allowed to vote.” I thought that non-citizens were disallowed from voting, and yet they seem to be doing it. Dead people are voting too, which is outrageous. Some people are voting more than once from more than one state at a time simply because they got multiple ballots and are encouraged to vote often. Yikes. 

Maybe it’s time to slow down some of the frenzy of our lives.

For me, it all comes down to this: What’s most important is getting legal voters their ballots, encouraging as many as possible to cast them, not accepting illegal votes, showing ID if necessary (I think in today’s world, it is necessary), then hand-counting them instead of depending on machines.

Consider this: A planet takes an entire year to circle the sun. Would we want it to go any faster? Do we need it to? Do we have to know who won or lost an election four minutes after polls close? What do you think?

Winnie Comstock-Carlson
President and Publisher

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