The announcement that Maryland was going to start counting mailed-in ballots on Oct. 1 is of great concern to me and should be of concern to all voters (”Maryland vote counting for November election to begin Oct. 1 in anticipation of avalanche of mail-in ballots,” August 19).
U.S. elections generally assume that all voters have access to the same information to use to make their ballot choices. Allowing votes over a two-month period before the Nov. 3 election potentially creates the opportunity to have large numbers of voters casting their votes based on erroneous or changed information. This problem was observed in some of the state Democratic primaries, when candidates dropped out between the time voting started and the date of the primary. Those voters who had cast ballots for the former candidates did not have an opportunity to vote for a current candidate.
This problem could happen everywhere where there is a significant time period between the start and the end of the voting period. What if some historic event takes place in that time period that significantly affects the election? In addition, the state should, with all of its resources, be able to create a ballot counting process that does not take two months.
David Griggs, Columbia
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