Mail-in ballots, state constitutional amendments, midterms make for busy Virginia election season

GATE CITY — Scott County and Virginia voters have more to look forward to than picking local elected officials and their member of Congress in November. Registrars across the region agree on one thing — they invariably say they are awaiting guidance from the Virginia Department of Elections on what to do about the Trump administration's attempt to control who receives mail-in ballots for the November midterm elections. Scott County Registrar Mike Edwards and Wise County Registrar Allison Robbins said on Monday that they and other Southwest Virginia registrars are waiting to see what state election officials decide for compliance in a shifting national legal landscape. Edwards said Friday that the first round of absentee ballots for voters who have filed requests must be mailed by Sept. 18, the first day of early voting in Virginia for the November elections. So far, there have been no changes to how his office mails the ballots, Edwards added. Heather Evans, political science professor at The University of Virginia's College at Wise, said Thursday that several developments in recent weeks have created uncertainty about mail-in ballots. The U.S. Supreme Court in August ruled against lower court holds on a Trump administration move to require that state mail-in ballot lists be checked against a federal database of voters for citizenship eligibility, Evans said. Virginia, and other states, already check for citizenship when registering voters. The administration's move to have the U.S. Postal Service check batches of ballots being sent to voters hit another roadblock this week, when a U.S. district judge in Massachusetts put a hold on that system. Evans said a whistleblower complaint claims the USPS system to match federally mandated individual ballot barcodes against a federal citizenship list is not ready for use and could cause entire batches of absentee ballots to be sent back to registrars if even one ballot barcode has any issue. "The (USPS) system has been rushed and is not ready, according to the complaint," Evans said. "I believe the Trump administration is obsessed with fraud that's just not there, and the concern is that people won't get their absentee ballots." The Trump ballot check system could affect three major voting groups – college students, older and homebound voters and deployed military personnel. Evans is helping organize an UVA Wise event on Sept. 15 – National Voter Registration Day – to inform students away from their residential voting districts on how to register in the proper district. "It's hard for students attending college away from home to get back and vote in-person or register to vote," said Evans. Voter fraud is so rare that it has not affected the outcome of any election in the U.S. in years, Evans added, and Donald Trump has been documented as voting by mail in recent elections. "The League of Women Voters is encouraging people to vote in-person if they want to cast early ballots," said Evans. "In Virginia, luckily we have a decent window, 45 days, for early voting." "This is a solution that does not have a problem," Evans added. "If it's not broken, why fix it?"