By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
With all the election pandering surrounding mail-in ballots for the upcoming general election, Montague County Elections Administrators Ginger Wall said she feels confident they will be able to process the ballots in a timely fashion; however, she encourages those planning to apply to do so as soon as possible before the Oct. 23 deadline.
As many states still battle high COVID-19 infection rates, citizens wonder if they can safely go to the polls and vote in November. In turn, if they vote by mail, will their ballots arrive in time if there are slowdowns in the post office?
Before the pandemic struck in March within the United States only five states – Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington – conducted their elections using a vote-by-mail system. Though all states allow voters to vote by mail in certain circumstances, before the pandemic, 16 states required voters to provide reasons for their preferences before the application was approved.
All voters in at least 43 states will be able to vote by mail in the November elections as absentee voting was expanded for safety reasons during the pandemic. Some 34 states had absentee voting prior to the pandemic, allowing any voters to vote by mail without requiring an excuse. An additional nine states have either dropped the excuse requirement or added concerns about COVID-19 to be a valid reason.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton informed county election officials in June fear of contracting COVID-19 is not a valid disability for the purposes of receiving a ballot by mail.

Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News. Also read a story about the history of voting in America that began with a voice vote at the courthouse and now often uses a digital tablet.