Smacking Down Another Argument for Automatic Mail-In Balloting

(Chuck Muth) – Our Pigpen Project focus is on getting the Nevada voter rolls cleaned up so that only active, registered voters receive a ballot in the mail. 
 
However, that doesn’t mean we support universal, automatic mail-in balloting – especially in Nevada with such a transient population coming and going every month.
 
The Democrats’ argument for automatically mailing ballots to people who don’t request them has been that it will increase voter turnout.  But is that true?
 
No.
 
Since I learned math from a 1960’s song by Tom Lehrer, I leave the number-crunching to our data “man-with-the-plan,” Dan Burdish.  And he sent me some very interesting stats. 
 
Here are the general election turnout figures for Clark County in non-presidential election cycles over the past 20 years…

• 2002 – 57.23%
• 2006 – 55.97%
• 2010 – 63.48%
• 2014 – 41.48%
• 2018 – 59.71%
• 2022 – 51.97%

2022 was the first all-mail election in a non-presidential election year in Nevada. 
 
And as you see, turnout was the SECOND LOWEST – better only than the 2014 cycle when Democrat turnout collapsed (their gubernatorial candidate actually lost to “None of the Above” in the primary).
 
So much for that argument.
 
But maybe we’d at least see a surge in historical turnout in presidential elections, right?
 
Not.  Take a look…

• 2004 – 79.91%
• 2008 – 80.08%
• 2012 – 81.21%
• 2016 – 75.40%
• 2020 – 73.99%

Again, 2020 was the first all-mail ballot election in a presidential election cycle in Nevada.  And turnout was the LOWEST on record.
 
Gov. Joe Lombardo’s election reform bill (SB405: Election Integrity Act) would change Nevada back to only mailing ballots to those who request them – saving taxpayers millions of dollars by not mailing ballots to people who didn’t request them, don’t want them, and won’t use them.
 
In fact, over a half-million Nevada voters who received mail-in ballots didn’t use them in 2022!
 
Waste of money – and dramatically increases the potential for voting fraud. 
 
However, the governor’s bill does nothing to stop people who want a mail-in ballot from getting one.  Or from voting early.  Or from voting on election day.
 
In other words, there are absolutely NO GOOD REASONS to continue automatically mailing ballots to every active registered voter.  None whatsoever – especially when our voter rolls are anything but pristine.
 
It doesn’t make it easier to vote; only easier to cheat.
 
Which makes you wonder why, as of this morning, the Democrats have refused to even hold a HEARING on the governor’s bill, let alone give it an up-or-down vote.
 
Why are they so afraid to even TALK about this issue, hmmm?
 
7 Worst Habits of Highly Unelectable People

1. Picking the wrong race
2. Picking the wrong district
3. Picking the wrong issues
4. Picking the wrong time
5. Picking the wrong consultants
6. Picking unnecessary fights with the media
7. Picking door-knocking over fundraising

FAMOUS LAST WORDS
 
“If even one vote has been illegally cast or if the integrity of just one election official is compromised, it diminishes faith in the process.” – U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams
 
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com.  You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com.  His views are his own.