The push in Congress and in many states to force an all-mail national election in November and in the remaining state primaries is both unwise and unnecessary.
It is unwise because absentee or mail-in ballots are voted outside the supervision and overview of election officials—thus destroying the secret ballot, an important hallmark of American elections for more than a century. They are susceptible to being stolen, altered, and forced. They can lead to the intimidation and improper pressuring of voters in their homes.
And let’s not overlook the errant vulnerabilities and vagaries of being misdirected or not delivered by the postal system.
Finally, vote-harvesting in states that have legalized it—allowing candidates, campaign workers, party activists, and political consultants who have a stake in the outcome to pick up absentee ballots from voters—dramatically increases the likelihood of fraud and illegal “assistance” of voters.
It is unnecessary because elections have been successfully held under much more onerous conditions, such as in Liberia in 2014 in the middle of the West African Ebola epidemic.
There is no reason we cannot do the same in our neighborhood polling places, using all of the same safety protocols that are allowing all of us to go to the grocery store, pharmacies, and other retail establishments.
In 1998, after a series of cases in Florida involving absentee ballot fraud, the Department of Law Enforcement issued a report on persistent fraud in state elections, calling absentee ballots the “tools of choice” of “those who are engaging in election fraud.”
That included the 1997 mayoral race in Miami, which was overturned because...
