WE NEED TO MAKE VOTING EASIER IMMEDIATELY
I live in Washington, D.C., which held its primary election on June 2nd. My wife Tiffany and I tried to vote absentee because of the coronavirus pandemic. The requests were made well before the deadline, but the mail in ballots never arrived. So, on election day we voted in person at one of the special polling locations.
The D.C. Board of Election’s website estimated a 30-minute wait to vote, which seemed reasonable to me. However, that prediction seemed patently ridiculous to my wife and I as we took our place at the back of a line that extended down a long city block and wrapped around the corner.
I always vote for two reasons. First, my mother Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton was on the ballot as she has been every two years since 1990. She needs my vote. Second, she was a key member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a group of young people who played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement that won many victories for African Americans in their fight for equality, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965. I would dishonor her hard work by not voting.
Our voting misadventure began around 4:00 pm. The closer we got to the front of the line the slower the pace seemed to get. We did get a break from the monotony at 7:00 pm when everyone in line kneeled to honor the nationwide protests of George Floyd’s murder by four police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
By 8:00 pm food and water were being handed out to those still waiting in line. The most ironic thing about this experience is my father Edward Norton use to be the head of the DC Board of Elections back in the 1980s. He passed away 6 years ago, but as I stood in line getting delirious from boredom I kept imagining calling him up afterwards to whine about my experience and demand he fix these problems in time for November.
Finally, at 9:00, exhausted from standing on our feet for five hours, we voted, limped back to our car, drove home and ate a late dinner. We are just relieved the weather cooperated. After all, the next day the high temperature rose 18 degrees to a high of 95 degrees. Voting in sunstroke-inducing heat would have made matters worse.
My wife and I learned a valuable lesson. With the possibility of a second wave of the coronavirus being exacerbated by the flu this fall, special polling locations and insanely long lines could be the norm across America. We will be requesting mail in ballots months in advance or we will vote early.
Regrettably mail in ballots have turned into a partisan issue. The Republican Party has been either lukewarm towards legislation to make mail-in voting easier or in the case of President Donald Trump, vociferously opposed to any expansion of this voting tool.
It is unclear whether it will be harder or easier to vote this November, but regardless, I suspect voter participation will be extremely high. If a June primary in an overwhelming Democratic city can cause people to stand in line for hours on end, you can reasonably expect even more people will vote in a general election that includes who will be President next year.