The statement: The voting bill, known as HR 1, “will force states to adopt general ballot papers.” – Mike Pence, former vice president.
Pence, the Republican who was Donald Trump’s vice president, raised multiple objections to the bill in a column that appeared in the Daily Signal, a publication of the Conservative Heritage Foundation.
Fact rating: Untrue. This is wrong. HR 1 will not force every state to run almost entirely by post, as it does now by automatically sending ballot papers to every registered voter.
Rather, the bill would facilitate the process of voting by mail for those who wish to use it by repealing rules requiring an excuse to be absent and compiling proof of identification rather than a signature. It will not require anyone to stop voting early or in person on election day, or to vote in person.
Discussion
The bill focuses on lifting state restrictions on voters who voluntarily choose to cast their ballots by mail. Simply put, it simply requires states to grant access by mail if they want to use it.
“Every state already uses some form of consent,” said Matthew Weil, director of the election project at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “The differences between states currently revolve around how many voters are eligible to use it.”
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Voice experts say Pence’s ‘universal agreement’ is not a common practice.
The term “email elections” is more common. This system is currently used in Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington state and Utah. California recently relocated to temporarily extend this policy. Other states that used this process during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic did not extend it permanently.
At all postal elections, ballot papers are automatically mailed to every registered voter. “The voter marks the ballot paper, places it in a secret envelope or sleeve and then in a separate postal envelope, signs an affidavit on the outside of the envelope and returns the package by post or by handing it over,” according to the National Conference of State Legislators.
Some of the election lists for all posts also offer an alternative option to vote, but these are used much less frequently than the ballot papers.
This is not the only way to execute mail votes. In many states, any qualified voter may vote absent without offering an apology. In the remaining states, including Texas, an apology is needed. Some states offer a permanent ballot for absentees: voters who ask to be on the list automatically receive an absentee ballot for future elections.
Nothing in HR 1 or the amendments passed by the House compels the adoption of ‘universal ballot papers’.
The law states that states may not ‘impose additional conditions or requirements’ on the ability of a voter to cast an absent ballot in the federal election. In addition, the bill contains the laws that require the identification of the ballot papers outside the signature of a voter, including notarial declarations.
The bill allows states to set a “reasonable deadline” to request a postal ballot and return it to election officials. And it requires states to treat an application for the consent for one election as an application for all subsequent federal elections.
The Heritage Foundation, where Pence is a leading visiting fellow, said the bill would determine the “essential equivalent” of voting by e-mail by requiring states to send applications for an absent ballot by mail to all registered voters and a preference for absent voting as a permanent default for voters who prefer it.
Experts disagree.
“Nothing in HR 1 requires ‘universal ballots,’ under the definition used in Oregon, Washington and the other states,” Weil said.
There is no doubt that these provisions on HR 1 do place demands on some states – those that require an excuse to be absent, those that require voter identification outside the signature for ballot papers, and those that do not have the choice to hold a permanent postal ballot. do not choose.
But none of these provisions amount to ‘universal enrollment’. Under HR 1, states are not obliged to send a postal vote to everyone. Instead, voting by mail makes an option, not mandatory.
One part of the bill – ‘Methods of voting’ – makes it clear that such ballots should not be sent to voters automatically.
In addition, personal voting will not be eliminated under HR 1, either early voting or on election day. The phrase “polling station” appears 82 times in the bill, and it contains a section that requires each state to vote in person early.
“HR 1 requires early personal access to and election day,” said Danielle Lang, co-director of suffrage and redistribution at the Campaign Legal Center. “It simply requires that all Americans have access to a voice by mail option if they want to use it.”
Amy Sherman, reporter for PolitiFact, contributed to this report.