Those planning on voting in the 2020 presidential election should only do so once.
On Sept. 3, President Donald Trump suggested that people who vote early by mail should also show up at polling sites and vote a second time if their ballots hadn’t yet been counted. The remarks came a day after the president suggested voters should cast ballots twice — one in person and another by mail — to test the mail-in system.
Both of the statements drew widespread condemnation from national, state, and local election officials.
Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps and his staff advised there is no need for this as the state allows all those who submit an absentee ballot to track their ballot through the indianavoters.in.gov website.
If a person attempts to vote twice — which is a felony — they will get caught and it will slow down the voting process for fellow citizens while also creating more work for local election officials.
Should someone in Bartholomew County vote by mail and then try to vote in person, the electronic poll pad that all voters have to sign into before voting at a polling location would alert poll workers that the person had already voted. Once that happens, the electronic system would block that voter from being able to sign in, which prevents poll workers from programming the voter’s ballot.
Poll workers can’t override the system — only election board members can do that. So if a voter attempted to vote twice, it would create longer lines and wait times for fellow voters on election day as board members would need to be dispatched to fix the issue.
Those thinking about voting by mail but also wanting to check their ballot’s status on election day in person would also slow down the voting process. Longer lines, especially during a pandemic, is something no voter wants to experience.
The clerk’s office is already preparing for a record number of mail-in absentee votes. As of Sept. 3, 3,837 local voters requested mail-in absentee ballots. In the 2016 general election, a total of 1,333 votes were cast by mail.
While Phelps and his staff are up to the challenge, preventable hang-ups by voters should be avoided.
Exercise your right this November, but only do it once.
