We have a form of absentee voting in Iowa that allows registered voters to vote early in person. Due to my extensive travel schedule I took time this week to vote at our county Auditor’s office. As I waited for my wife to finish casting her ballot I spoke with a volunteer election official who was helping a disabled person vote curbside. I commended her for volunteering and expressed how impressed I was with the curbside voting. She spoke of how rewarding it was to align her value for voting with her volunteer efforts. She mentioned in passing how early, in person, voting was criticized by its opponents. She went on to explain the protections and checks in balance made it virtually impossible for a person to be able to vote more than once. I found her explanation informative, helpful, and if I’m honest, comforting.
We have the technology in place to make voting accessible while still maintaining its integrity. Our nation has a few of those isolated stories of questionable voting. But we have even more stories in our nation’s history of voting rights being suppressed due to race and gender. The least we can do is make sure that voting is accessible to those who are registered and eligible.