By: Jaycie Dodd
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark – With only 14 days to the 2020 election, the volume from local, state, and national candidates continues to increase. Many University of Arkansas students worry about having to vote through mail in or absentee voting.
University of Arkansas Political Science Professor, Janine Perry, said they shouldn’t be too worried.
“The beautiful things about questions about voter fraud through mail in ballots is that there is no greater chance of voter fraud.” Said Perry.
Perry cited Washington and Oregon as prime examples of states that have used mail-in voting for over 20 years. She said there is plenty of data to suggest voters should not be worried about fraud surrounding mail in voting.
One of the biggest concerns among Americans is when will we know election results. Perry suggested we should know the national election results that night, but local and state election could be a different story.
“Not knowing the results of the election happens fairly regularly on the state and local level.” said Perry, “There are 86,000 units of government in the United States…inevitably there is going to be a close call and it will come down to absentee ballots.”
Perry said what is making this election seem so unclear is so many states expanding their ways for voters to mail in their ballots due to COVID-19.
“It’s a multiplicity of factors that are adding to the uncertainty in this particular election.” said Perry.
Perry also noted the biggest issue for absentee or mail-in voting is accidents. She said to always check and make sure everything is filled out correctly before mailing in the ballot. However, she said the ballots that get thrown out due to accidents won’t be enough to affect the outcome of the election.
Early voting in Arkansas began Oct. 19 and Washington County saw a large increase in the number of voters choosing to vote on the first day. According to the Washington County Election Commission 6,165 people voted on the first day of early voting in the 2020 election compared to 4,137 people who voted on the first day in the 2016 election.