Absentee Ballot Boxes Should Be Available in Each Municipality
Many voters complained during the June primary that they did not receive absentee ballots in a timely manner after they submitted the requests. Other voters worry that the postal service may lose the absentee ballots in the mail, depriving voters of their right to vote. Or, that the ballots arrive after the deadline passed. Our postal service is not very reliable; many letters are lost or sent to the wrong address. President Trump has attacked our mail service, sowing voting fears. There is an alternative to an unreliable postal service.
Inasmuch as we can’t count on the postal service to send ballots to the right address in time and since voting by mail is important and we want to encourage maximum participation, the Board of Elections should place a secure and safe box at each Town, Village and City Hall. If voters don’t trust the post office voters could drop off their ballots at the municipal building. If people apply for a ballot and do not receive one before the primary, each municipal building should have extra ballots that the voter can obtain and send in.
This recommendation would increase voter participation and help make sure that everyone who wants to vote actually does vote.
Paul Feiner
Greenburgh Town Supervisor
