Electile Dysfunction

Yesterday was the rescheduled primary day in Kentucky.  While some state officials and national pundits praised the state's turnout, not everything could be considered something to crow about.  I first saw signs of possible trouble when the governor delayed a original May election date by a month during the first week of the lockdown.  At that time, it was premature to delay anything, not knowing how the pandemic would be playing out.  As it was, some form of an election could have been conducted on the original date, but it would have needed major changes to work as normal.  A month after the first announcement, details about how the election would be handled came out.  Mail-in absentee balloting would be expanded so that fewer people would be showing up at polling places.  Voters could email or call in to get a ballot.  They could also set up appointments to vote early, as can be done in regular elections.  The biggest change was that only one polling place would be set up in each county, regardless of the needs of the county.  Every registered voter would be sent a postcard with the information needed to vote.  Things didn't turn out that way.  I never got a postcard.  I heard from many others that they didn't get one either, mostly in eastern Kentucky.  It could be the postcards got lost on the way to or from Charleston, West Virginia. [A few years ago,  the postal service closed the main processing hub for the region and sent all future mail to Charleston for processing.  While this saved money, it could add a day or so to the delivery of out-of-state mail and two or more days to intrastate mail, as it had to go through another state to get to its final destination.]  Some people never got that information, even though the same information was available elsewhere.  Not everyone had internet access either, as not everyone owns a computer or smart phone, and many free internet services, such as public libraries, weren't open yet.   I'm not sure how many knew about being able to make appointments, even though the service has always been available.  Furthermore, some counties were able to have more than one polling place.  Pike county had five, six if you count the county court house where one could still make an appointment, if they were in a high risk group for contacting anything.  Jefferson and Fayette counties, the two counties with the highest population in the state, only got one place each.  [For argument's sake, Pike county is the largest county in area in the state.  In fact, it is one of the largest counties in the nation east of the Mississippi River.  It can take over a hour to drive from one end of the county to the other.  Having multiple sites may have been needed.]. With populations in the hundreds of thousands, more sites were needed.  Some tried to get more sites open, but the legal results were not in their favor and there would not be enough time to appeal, not without the possible confusion on behalf of the electorate.   On Election Day, I heard of waits of over an hour, outdoors, in the rain, locally.  Fayette county had it worse.  Waits of over two hours were common.  The last voters left after eight pm, two hours after polls were supposed to close, only because the were in line a six.  In Jefferson county, election officers actually shut the doors at six, even with people still trying to get in line.  [At one time, I was an election officer.  Anyone still in line at closing time can still vote, but officers can shut it down at exactly that time.  Picking hairs, but it is still a borderline call.] Difficulties with getting in and parking caused delays.  Candidates tried to file injunctions to keep the doors open, although, the last I heard, a judge at 6:30 pm allowed those still on site to vote.  How many were still there, I don't know.   Afterwards, sites announces the day's results.  A few races were declared, but the major ones that were making national headlines were still too close.  The final totals cannot be announced until all of the absentee ballots are counted, and they are due back in until next week.  Only those postmarked by the election are to be counted.  However, there is no way of knowing how many of these ballots were filled out correctly or if any were not filled out seriously.  Once the final totals are in, there could be a few lawsuits about the legitimacy of the results.  I'm surprised more lawsuits weren't filed beforehand, but, since the courts and state government weren't fully open, it does make sense.  The governor could have asked the state legislature to do something during the last days of their session to help make the process run smoother, but he didn't.  He couldn't, not without losing like a hypocrite.  He had complained that the legislature shouldn't be in session at the height of the pandemic, and that they should do the basics of passing a budget or just close and he would call a special session that would cover the budget, and only that, at a later time.  [Kentucky is just about the state where the legislature cannot call itself to order.  Aside from a regular yearly session, only the governor or acting governor can call a session, and they are the ones who get to decide what can be considered.  The legislature can always close the session if they don't want to consider that action, though.] So, while turnout looks great, I wouldn't call this a success, by any means.  Many voters may have inadvertently been disenfranchised by these actions.  It was all a confusing mess, with a hint of controversy surrounding it. November's election can't be held this exact same way, even if there are those out there who think this is a viable way to conduct the democratic process.