An Election Like

Every year on a Tuesday in early November, tens of millions of Americans arrive at polling places around the country to cast their ballots. In the weeks leading up to that date, those unable to vote in person sign and seal ballots destined for the county clerk’s office, where they await verification and counting. In most elections, tens of millions of Americans utilize this process, but this year’s election was far from typical. In 2016, over a quarter of votes in Michigan were cast before election day, either by mail, or by voting early at designated precincts. In 2020, 41 percent of registered voters requested mail in ballots, more than double the rate of 2016, according to The New York Times, and over 85 percent of those ballots were cast. Nationally, about 101 million votes were cast before election day this year. Those votes are equal to roughly 73 percent of the total 2016 turnout. Here in Traverse City, all ballots arrive at the office of the City Clerk, Benjamin Marentette. Marentette served on the Michigan Election Modernization Advisory Committee, a group working with the Secretary of State to improve access to voting. Marentette has been at the forefront of the expansion of voting by mail, instructing his office to “send an invitation to every registered voter in Traverse City, inviting them to vote absentee and [giving] them a link to the application to try to make it easy.” This push for absentee voting expansion has seen Marentette publishing opeds, posting informational videos, and participating in interviews with local media, all in an effort to get out the vote. Marentette says the county issued 250 percent more absentee ballots in this cycle as compared to 2016, as the country sets record turnout. Voter turnout efforts were front and center in this election. Social media efforts bombarded voters, providing resources enabling voter registration, absentee ballot requests, and helping prospective voters make a plan to vote. Snapchat alone registered 1 million voters this year, and Facebook registered an additional 4.4 million. These social media giants are part of a wider movement to encourage participation by young voters in elections. Led by campaigns like vote.org, the internet is becoming a tool to increase voter turnout. Despite concerns about the security of absentee voting, Marentette is emphasizing the safety of voting by mail, reassuring those who voted by mail, “[absentee voting is] a method that is proven to be safe and secure, and has never been proven otherwise,” he continued, highlighting that, “there’s really no instances of widespread voter fraud. What there is a lot of is widespread instances of people trying to keep folks from feeling comfortable voting.” The Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy think tank, concluded that voter fraud is extremely rare, despite tens of millions of Americans voting by mail every election. Just 8 hours after polls closed on election night, President Donald Trump began his much anticipated strategy of sowing misinformation by falsely declaring victory while millions of votes had yet to be counted, and no candidate had secured the required 270 electoral votes. Trump continued by urging states to stop counting outstanding ballots. Social media sites rapidly became overcome by conspiracy theories and false claims ranging from illegally cast mail in ballots (no ballots have yet been pronounced fraudulent) to more people casting votes than were registered to vote in Wisconsin (quickly proven false by state election officials). This was largely anticipated, and social media platforms and news outlets quickly reacted by limiting the spread of, and quickly fact checking, false claims. This election’s chaotic and unconventional processes closely reflect the stance of the nation as a whole. The Coronavirus pandemic and ideological clashes have shaped the last year in remarkable ways, fundamentally changing the way we vote in the process. This rise in voting by mail will undoubtedly lead many to continue voting this way, bolstered by a large-scale proof of its security and convenience, even long after the pandemic passes. //