There are five days left until the U.S. 2020 presidential election, and Elizabethtown College is urging its students to participate in this major election with its “Flock to the Polls” campaign.
“You have a unique opportunity to transform an entire election,” Special Assistant to the President & Executive Director for Government, Corporate & Board Relations Ryan Riley said in a video posted to the @etowncollege Instagram account. “Pennsylvania is the number one battleground state. Your vote means more than you think it does, so go out and take charge.”
Students are doing just that. Many have already voted by mail or plan to vote in person.
Voting by mail, also known as absentee voting, has increased across the country as more voters decided to avoid crowds and decrease potential exposure to COVID-19.
“I voted because I want to make sure my voice is involved in the democratic process in every way granted to me,” sophomore Shannon Young commented. “I voted by mail, partially because I’m from Maryland and couldn’t go home for it, but also because it’s the safest way right now.”
President Trump and members of the Republican Party have complained about absentee voting practices, suggesting that it could lead to voter fraud. However, according to the Associated Press (AP), claims that absentee or mail-in votes are causes of voter fraud or are otherwise open to foreign interference are completely unfounded. Voting by mail is just as reliable as voting early or in-person, provided a person both requests and mails their ballot to return with enough time for it to arrive by their state’s deadline.Some states require a ballot to be postmarked by election day, others require it to arrive by election day. There have been intense legal battles in Pennsylvania and Michigan about whether mail-in votes arriving after election day can be counted. In PA, it was determined that ballots arriving three days after Nov. 3 will be counted, according to AP.
Concerns about whether or not their ballot would arrive in time to be counted have led some Etown students to decide to make the trip home to vote in-person on election day. Others requested a mail-in ballot and then dropped it off in-person early, to make sure it did not get lost in the mail.
“[I voted via] mail-in, but gave it to my parents who dropped it off,” junior Jenna Hoffman commented. “I don’t trust the mail to make sure it gets there.”
For students who want to vote in person, the College is providing transportation shuttles to polling places from 7a.m. to 8p.m. on election day. The shuttles will be departing from the lot in front of Alpha hall, and students can either sign up in advance via the Jay’s App or show up on election day.
With far more people voting via mail than in earlier elections, with more than 58 million advance votes cast according to AP, some delays in election results are expected, as election officials in many states may not start processing early and mail-in votes until election day.
It’s also possible that there will be major shifts as a result of mail-in votes being counted later. The prevailance of mail-in votes this year, combined with Trump’s repeated incorrect claims that mail-in votes are subject to fraud, have led to concerns that the president will declare results illegitimate.
Regardless of how you vote, remember to take COVID-19 safety precautions and wear a mask, social distance, and wash your hands.
