The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
Lessons from the 2020 Presidential Election
The importance of the secret ballot and of same day voting
In my post yesterday about the 2020 presidential election, I argued that the widespread use of mail in voting because of Covid distorted the election's results. It did so because when people vote at home instead of in a voting booth with a curtain drawn behind them, family members and partisan canvassers observe how those people vote. The voter will inevitably feel pressure from family members and the canvaser that he would not feel if he voted in a traditional voting booth.
The second problem with mail-in voting is that the headlines and news are constantly changing. The goal of an election should be to capture voter sentiment on Election Day, not election month. All voters should have the same state of the nation and the world in mind when they cast their ballots.
I do not think there was fraud in the counting of votes or vote machine error in the 2020 presidential election. I did therefore misspeak in writing that the results of mail in voting in 2020 were fraudulent. But, I do think that the outcome of the 2020 election was changed because of the use of mail in voting and that this may explain why President Trump lost the counted vote in 2020. People casting votes at home with other people looking at how they were voting probably felt pressure not to vote for President Trump's re-election.
Going forward, President Trump is calling today for the GOP to invest massively in mail in voting, which is perfectly sensible if the Democrats are going to engage in it. A better longterm outcome would be to get back to the secret ballot and have everyone vote in person on one day -- Election Day.
