The top Republican on the committee, Mike Rogers, said there was no need for the hearing in part because the panel doesn’t oversee the post office. He said the session was aimed at bolstering Democratic “conspiracy theories.” He called voting by mail “the least secure method,” and blamed states for setting “unrealistic deadlines” for delivering ballots.
Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, dismissed claims that voting by mail invites fraud. He said it has “has proven to be an incredibly safe and secure method.”
Adams said Kentucky was taking steps to handle increased voting, including letting local officials begin counting mailed ballots early, investing in equipment such as scanners and sorters and increasing the number of days for in-person voting, Adams said.
Drop Boxes
Kentucky plans to use more drop boxes, where voters can deposit ballots for the fall election, Adams said. “Those things are more secure than mail boxes,” he said. “It was Republicans that liked drop boxes” in Kentucky’s June primary, Adams added.
Drop boxes have attracted controversy. For instance, The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee have said expanded drop boxes in Pennsylvania had “exponentially enhanced” the risk of fraud.
Adams said his state saw a surge in absentee balloting to 75% of the total in the Kentucky primary in June, from the usual share of 2%. Nevertheless, local authorities “supervised it tightly” and “we had a clean election,” he said. The Republican also said that “we’re in unique times and we’ve got to acclimate” and that he had confidence in the integrity of his counterparts in other states.
Under questioning from Rogers, Adams said that “voting in person is preferable,” and noted that while thousands of Kentucky residents cast ballots that way in June, there was no Covid-19 spike as a result. “We have to have in-person voting also.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.