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Opinion: Limiting ballot drop-off sites poor decision

Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it is right.

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that Texas can limit counties to one mail ballot drop-off site. The ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that Gov. Greg Abbott’s order limiting drop-off sites was proper because Texans have other ways to cast their votes.

Indeed, Texans have other ways to vote. Eligible voters can early vote in person or by mail, or show up at the polls on Election Day.

But in a year when COVID-19, voting rights and the ballot integrity are top of mind to many voters, the governor’s decision to limit counties to a single drop-off location unnecessarily complicates an already chaotic voting cycle.

The governor said the limit is necessary to preserve voting integrity, a reference to voter fraud. However, voting fraud has been rare, according to experts, plus this is a year of pandemic when many more people would like to vote in ways that ensure they aren’t standing in line.

As evidenced by the first day of early voting in Texas, a massive voter turnout is expected this presidential election cycle — all the more reason for the governor to have allowed counties to decide how best to serve residents and increase voting opportunities. And make no mistake, casting a ballot at a drop-off location is not like dropping a letter into an unattended, locked mailbox, something people do with confidence every day. Voters must present an approved form of identification to deliver their mail-in ballots, and they may not turn in any one else’s ballot — the same procedure that voters must adhere to on Election Day.

Earlier this year, we praised Abbott for wisely extending the start of the early voting period to Oct. 13. That change wisely added six days to early voting and gives voters roughly three weeks to cast ballots in advance of Election Day. Allowing counties to determine their needs for drop-off locations should have been the governor’s next step.

Without a doubt, the need for pandemic protections, such as regularly sanitizing the polls and enforcing social distancing in lines, have complicated voting this year. Between now and Election Day, we’ll find out pretty quickly whether the state and county governments have enough polling places and trained workers to prevent long delays, and whether disruptive voting machine glitches and other issues at polls will mar the cycle.

The bottom line is that the opportunity to vote undergirds the foundation of democracy in Americans, and it should not be a test of endurance and persistence.

— The Dallas Morning News

 
 
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