Due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a considerable portion of the United States (U.S.) population has been staying at home. The number of new cases remains high, prompting U.S. citizens to demand mail-in voting for the upcoming November presidential election. Mail-in voting, as the name suggests, is voting via mail, which may prevent a huge increase in new infections during the elections. Opposition to this system, however, argues that this policy should not be adopted due to concerns about the postal service’s capability to handle a tremendous surge in required services.

According to the U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, absentee voting is a method for people who, for various reasons, cannot be physically present in the polling stations during the elections to cast their votes. Absentee voting also requires that people request an absentee ballot. All-mail voting, which is the official name of the policy, or universal mail-in voting as some calls it, is a policy which sends ballots via mail to every registered voter of a state. Universal mail-in voting is used to encourage voting, and unlike absentee voting, people do not need an excuse to be given the right to cast their vote via mail.

The expansion of the policy of all-mail voting to encompass the entirety of the U.S. has become an issue that may even decide the fate of the U.S. presidential election. Democrats are arguing that this policy is needed to uphold basic rights for American citizens, whereas Republicans believe that universal mail-in voting could lead to election fraud.

Most American states have announced that they will use absentee voting during the November elections. This decision will reduce the administrative strains of the U.S. government since people will have to request ballots instead of being sent one. At the same time, municipalities are given the right to open polling stations, and people who find the effort to request an absentee ballot to be a hassle will be able to go and vote physically.

However, all-mail voting may be unnecessary and costly. In fact, the postal service of the U.S. seems not to be thoroughly ready for the upcoming election. According to the Washington Post, some states expect an increase of voting via mail by up to ten times the usual amount. This issue has been made more complicated by the fact that the postal service has to expand this service to 45 more states in the U.S.

Moreover, experts who wrote in the Washington Post stated that rushing to adopt universal mail-in voting by the election will surely bring “some unpleasant and unintended consequences.” One of the stated concerns was that there could be confusion regarding who won the election. That is, the postal service may not be able to deliver mail or retrieve it in time for votes to be counted. In addition, it is not clear if the federal government has enough staff to count the surge in votes. As many people who are now in office will be leaving their posts in 2021 if the results do not come before they leave, this could result in widespread confusion in Washington.

Whether universal mail-in voting should be adopted or not remains a controversial issue. Adopting it to keep people safe from the coronavirus may save lives immediately, but the U.S. simply seems not to be ready to adopt this policy. Another issue will be possible confusion among politicians in Washington, as there is no plan in motion to prepare politicians for a scenario in which the leadership leaves office before replacements arrive. Thus, adopting universal mail-in voting should be reconsidered in favour of a stable voting process for everyone.