Civics: One state counts the votes quickly, and the other takes weeks
What is Florida doing right? After the 2000 recount made the state a punchline, it successfully reformed its elections. Anyone can cast a mail ballot, no excuse required, but the system is set up to ensure speedy results. The deadline to request a blank ballot via the mail is 12 days before the election. Completed ballots must be received by 7 p.m., local time, on Election Day. In the meantime, clerks are permitted to pre-process mail votes that come in early.
California’s rules are intentionally lenient. Every registered voter is sent a mail ballot, and as long as the return envelope has a postmark saying it was sent back by Election Day, it’s still valid if it arrives at the clerk’s office a week later. This is “a little slower,” one proponent in the state Assembly recently said. “But in a society that wants immediate gratification, I think our democracy is worth taking a little time to get it right and to create a system where everyone can participate.”
American elections are hardly rushed affairs. They last for months, and mail ballots are sent out to voters with weeks to spare. It isn’t too much of a burden to ask that they be returned by Election Day, and this interminable counting of tardy mail ballots is corrosive to public confidence. Late counting opens the door for partisans to raise doubts about races that flip outcomes after Election Day.