With Trump’s presidency has come a lot of change. Some of these changes have included cuts to medicaid and SNAP, demanding the deportations of more than 139,000 undocumented immigrants and much more. However, this is only month 10 of a 4-year presidency. He has made many more promises for the future. One of these promises include ending mail in ballots, which he claims to make the voting system a breeding ground for fraud. But if Americans lose access to mail in ballots, what will it mean for those who rely on them to vote? What will it mean for our country as a whole?
Though there are in person alternatives to voting by mail, polling places are often inaccessible to many Americans across the country. This explains why nearly 60% of Americans voted using mail in ballots in the 2024 election. People who live in rural areas are one of the groups who rely on it most. 50% of urban polling places serve an area of less than 2 square miles, while rural polling places can serve an area of greater than 62 square miles.
The numbers speak for themselves. The long distances people in rural regions must travel makes it nearly impossible for people to vote in person, especially for those with families, jobs, or other responsibilities that prevent them from having hours to spend driving to vote. Mail ballots are a tool used by 22% of the rural population, yet even they face more barriers to voting by mail. These barriers include strict witnesses, a verifiable excuse to vote by mail, and limited postal service coverage. Mail in ballots should be accessible to more people, not less. It should not be a lengthy, exhaustive process to simply vote, a right given to all US citizens.
Another community who heavily relies on voting by mail are people with disabilities. Unlike rural voters, the issue of accessibility to in-person voting isn't distance, but instead physical barriers of entry. Although many poll places are required to be accessible by the ADA, there are still numerous violations that occur, such as the lack of ramps or elevators.
There are also the challenges of getting to polling places. Finding accessible transportation is not easy. People with disabilities are twice as likely to have inadequate transportation in comparison to non-disabled adults. This explains why a large majority of those who voted by mail in the 2020 election were people with disabilities. Mail-in ballots help prevent the hassle of getting to and into polling sites, making the voting process easier and more efficient for the disabled community.
Although accusations persist, Trump’s claims of corruption within the mail-in voting process have been debunked numerous times. In fact, many sources have found that fraud in casting your ballot by mail is extremely rare with only about 4 cases of mail voting fraud out of every 10 million votes over the course of 4 elections (2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 general elections). The hypocrisy of his claim has also been pointed out due to the fact that Trump himself recently cast a mail-in ballot in Florida after questioning the security of the method. It leads us to question Trump’s motives on his stance. Why does Trump consider it permissible for himself to access this necessary tool of voting by mail, but impermissible for others? Is there a distinction between him and these other voters, who arguably need this option more?
No matter the answer to this question, losing mail in ballots will have a deeper impact on our country as a whole. Certain communities, such as those with disabilities or those in rural areas, may be pushed away from voting out of sheer hopelessness. Without a way to get to the polls, they may see no other option. Voting is a right, not a privilege, and by taking away this right from any group of Americans, our country must be stripped of its title as a democracy. It is not enough to have in person polls. Though Trump can throw baseless claims of fraud around all he wants, we must accept what is best for the American people. America is a democracy, we must start acting like one. If not, we will begin to shift to oligarchy. This simply cannot happen.
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