Debate Desk
Is Ballot Harvesting Harmless Help for Voters Who Cannot Get to the Polls?
Letting third parties collect and return other people's ballots removes the chain of custody; many states limit it to protect voters.
The claim
Supporters of ballot collection say that elderly, disabled and rural voters, and those with unusual work schedules, find it hard to deliver a ballot, and that letting a friend, a neighbor or a volunteer return it helps them take part.
The answer in three points
- Help for voters who cannot get to a drop box is a good goal, and the rules should allow it from trusted people: family members, caregivers and household members. Many states already do so.
- Open-ended collection by organized third parties is another thing. When strangers or paid workers gather many ballots, the risk of pressure, loss, alteration or discarding rises, and the voter loses the privacy of the ballot at the time it matters.
- The Carter-Baker Commission of 2005 warned that absentee ballots are the most vulnerable to abuse. In 2018, a congressional race in North Carolina was set aside after an operative collected absentee ballots in a way that broke the law, which showed the risk is real, whatever the party. States can limit collection to relatives and caregivers and require a record of who handled a ballot.
States can write rules that protect both access and integrity, such as allowing family members and caregivers to return a ballot, requiring a signed record and penalizing the collection of ballots for pay.
The numbers
- North Carolina's State Board of Elections declined to certify the 2018 election in the Ninth Congressional District and ordered a new election after evidence of improper absentee ballot handling, according to the board's records.
- The Commission on Federal Election Reform of 2005 stated that absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud, according to its report.
- The Supreme Court upheld Arizona's limits on ballot collection in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee (2021), by a vote of 6 to 3.
What they will say next
"Fraud is rare." Most voters and officials are honest, and rules are made for the few who are not. When cases arise, they can change an outcome, as they did in North Carolina in 2018.
"Limits burden Native American and rural voters." That concern is worth taking seriously, and a rule can include exceptions for those with limited mail service, with tracking of who delivers the ballot.
"Community groups help people vote." They do much good with registration, information and rides to the polls. Handling the ballot itself is the line.
"It is legal in my state." Rules differ, and voters can look at their own state's law and ask their legislators for clear safeguards.
Help voters, protect the ballot, and keep a record of who touched it.
"Voters should be able to choose who helps them." In many cases that is possible within the law, through family, household members and caregivers. The rule is meant to prevent a pattern of mass collection, not to stop a daughter from mailing her mother's ballot.