Here we go again. President Trump issued an executive order banning voting by mail, or postal voting.
But the Constitution vests control of elections in the states, with Congressional oversight. Presidents play no role. State control promotes diversity and democratic participation. The people, not the President, control the most basic political function. We determine who determines other political functions.
Further, in contrast to Trump’s slander of the system, postal voting is neither inherently corrupt nor rarely employed. The military and their spouses posted overseas vote by mail. Americans employed abroad and their spouses do likewise. Eight states plus DC permit postal voting by request. Two states permit counties to decide this question. Nine states permit postal voting in local elections. In Oregon every single ballot is cast by mail. Constitutional assignment of this basic decision to the states enhances that role of the states that the Supreme Court once described as “laboratories of democracy”.
So, postal voting is indeed what young people refer to as “a thing”. It is a Constitutional thing. It is a democratic thing. But it is not a Presidential thing.
I am Bob Evans, and that is my perspective
