Photo: AFP
Election Day used to mean standing in a line at a polling place on a breezy Tuesday afternoon in November, perhaps for a couple of minutes in an off year, perhaps a lot longer for the heavy turnout in a Presidential year. Today, the mail-in ballot has equaled or surpassed the polling place in recent elections, as technology and apathy have stifled the need to be there in person on one set day; besides, mail-in ballots allow you to avoid the hassles of scheduling conflicts or hazardous weather. Mail-in balloting has become a hot-button issue in recent years, especially among Republicans and particularly President Trump, but according to National Review Editor-in-Chief Rich Lowry, it’s a game the GOP had better learn to play. He appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to explain why traditionalists had better embrace change at the ballot box and the mailbox.
Lowry told host Larry Mendte he misses the thrill of Election Day, but he knows the thrill is gone. “I’m not a fan of mail-in voting. My preference would be that everyone [does it] the way it used to be- [everyone] goes same day and votes in person. It’s more foolproof, it’s better for the voter, and it’s more secure, but we’re just far beyond that world, unfortunately. We maybe left it behind three decades ago, and the federal government doesn’t have the power to end mail-in balloting. Certainly the President can’t do it by executive order, so the only alternative here, unless you want to give Democrats a huge tactical advantage, is you need Republicans to vote by mail as well.”
Lowry does, however, strongly support some form of I.D. to prove who you are before you vote: “The states that do it well, like Georgia and Florida, they have a lot of security, including in Georgia, you’ve got to provide the proof, the identity, your driver’s license number or a photocopy of some other I.D. to even request a ballot. So, in our day and age, where you’ve got to show a driver’s license to do anything, to get into an office building in New York, of course you should have to do it to vote.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images