Democrats have been ramping up their calls for mail-in voting in recent months amid ongoing concerns over COVID-19 — but according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, casting a ballot in person this November may not be as dangerous as Dems would like us to believe.
According to The Washington Times, Fauci, a top adviser on President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, said in a Thursday interview that “there’s no reason” voters can’t line up at the polls as long as social distancing and mask protocols are followed.
“I think if carefully done according to the guidelines, there’s no reason that I can see why that not be the case,” Fauci told National Geographic, according to the Times.
“Go and wear a mask”
As the Times reported, Fauci alluded Thursday to precautions that can be taken to protect voters, similar to those Americans already see at their supermarkets: many businesses across the nation have placed marks on the floor “intended to keep people at least six feet apart,” the Times reports.
“You can do that,” Fauci suggested Thursday, according to the Times. “If you go and wear a mask, if you observe the physical distancing and don’t have a crowded situation, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to do that.”
He added: “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to vote, in person or otherwise.”
Vote-by-mail fraud
Questions about whether it will be safe to vote in person this November have been repeatedly raised by Democrats, much to the dismay of President Trump and other Republicans who have warned that vote-by-mail opens the door to fraud.
Siding with Dems, many in the media have dismissed these concerns — but a recent Heritage Foundation report published by the White House outlined several examples of voter crimes tied to mail-in ballots.
One case listed involved an Alabama woman who was convicted in 2015 of submitting 24 absentee ballots that she had fraudulently filled out. Thanks in part to her crime, the woman’s boyfriend won a local election by just 14 votes.
Also highlighted by the Heritage Foundation was the case of Arkansas Democratic state Rep. Hudson Hallum, who was sentenced to three years in prison for his scheme to bribe voters and destroy absentee ballots cast for his opponent, according to a Justice Department press release.
In yet another example, California residents Angel Perales and David Silva were both sent to prison in 2012 for tampering with absentee ballots, as well as other crimes. “Ballots cast in favor of the incumbent candidates were resealed and returned to the mail to be counted. Ballots for non-incumbent candidates were discarded,” a subsequent Justice Department news release read.
With any luck, this November’s elections won’t be similarly tampered with. But the only way to know for sure is to line up at the polls in person — and at least according to Fauci, there’s no reason it won’t be safe for Americans to do so.
No comments: