(The Daily Signal)—Just one battleground state was set to mail out absentee ballots before the presidential debate—but that time line has been pushed back because of litigation surrounding Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s ballot status.
In North Carolina, ballots can be mailed up to 60 days before the election. It was the lone state where voting was set to begin six days before the scheduled faceoff between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
Election officials in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will be mailing out absentee ballots in the coming days, while other swing states, such as Arizona and Georgia, mail ballots less than a month before the election.
Courts sided with Kennedy’s efforts to get his name off the ballot in North Carolina and Michigan last week. The independent candidate suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump. The North Carolina State Board of Elections has appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court.
North Carolina Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell asked county election officials to ensure ballots will be ready to go out to absentee voters no later than Sept. 21, which is the federal deadline to send absentee ballots in a presidential election, according to a North Carolina State Elections Board news release Friday. She told county officials not to send ballots until the case is settled and the state knows what date to send the ballots. The news release touted: “That would have made North Carolina the first state to send ballots to voters for the Nov. 5 general election.”
There are 56 days between the first presidential debate Tuesday night and the Nov. 5 election.
In 10 states, mail-in or absentee ballots are shipped out more than 45 days before the election, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
President Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware, which has been solidly Democratic in presidential races since 1992, sends ballots out up to 60 days prior to an election, according to the NCSL, and is now the only state mailing ballots before the debate.
Pennsylvania mails out ballots 50 days before the election. Wisconsin will send ballots out up to 47 days beforehand. So, voters there will have the chance to compare the two candidates on the stage Tuesday night.
Another swing state, Michigan, is among 11 states that mail ballots up to 45 days before the election, according to the NCSL.
Battleground states Arizona and Georgia send ballots out fewer than 30 days before the election.
“We have 17 days of early voting, and we have Election Day voting, but all with photo ID,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told The Daily Signal in an interview last week. “We think that it is a great gold standard to have a photo ID, no matter how you vote.”
He added that election results should be known sooner as well.
“We also think about pre-processing so we get the early votes and the absentee voting up no later than 8 p.m. on election night. Florida has theirs at 7:30. Ours is at 8. That’s good,” Raffensperger said. “It gives voters confidence in the process and keeps the lines short.”
“Early voting doesn’t start until the middle of October. People are requesting their absentee ballots now,” he added.
In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, 43% of all votes nationally were cast by mail, according to the Washington-based nonprofit Bipartisan Policy Center earlier this year, while 31% voted by mail in 2022. In 2016, just 21% of votes were cast by mail. Early in-person voting and Election Day voting were about evenly split in the 2020 presidential election.
Election-security advocates have long contended that too much mail-in voting can lead to problems, such as ballot harvesting, voter intimidation, and fraud.
“Election Day needs to mean Election Day, and not an election two weeks,” J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, an elections watchdog group, told The Daily Signal.
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Adams anticipates 2024 will go more smoothly than 2020.
“Courts cannot suspend election laws as easily as in 2020,” Adams said. “We don’t have a nationwide mail-in voting campaign the way we did in 2020. That’s a big deal.”
Election integrity advocates have also raised questions about how absentee and mail-in ballots have to be time-stamped and how existing laws will be enforced.
Two states split up the awarding of electoral votes by congressional districts. Both Maine and Nebraska begin mailing out ballots between 30 and 45 days before Election Day.
Now less than two months before Election Day, states are litigating about when mail ballots have to be postmarked, and whether ballots arriving after Election Day must be counted.
The most common deadline for delivery of mail ballots is by the close of Election Day, whether by mail or hand-delivered. However, the battleground state of Nevada—with all-mail voting—is among the 17 states that will count ballots that arrive after Election Day, according to the Public Interest Legal Foundation.
These jurisdictions still require ballots to be postmarked by Election Day. However, some jurisdictions accept an intelligent mail bar code or means other than a U.S. Postal Service postmark to date a ballot, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
While Nevada requires a postmark on Election Day or earlier, the NCSL says, “unclear postmarks received by the third day following the election are deemed to have been postmarked on or before Election Day.”
While dark-red Mississippi is far from a battleground state, it is the subject of a federal lawsuit now in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals contesting the state law that allows ballots arriving up to five days after Election Day. The state and national Republican and Libertarian parties have sued Mississippi.
“Multiple states allow ballots to keep rolling in after the election,” said Adams of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which filed a friend of the court brief in the Mississippi case.
In 2020, among the most controversial states was Pennsylvania. State law there says absentee ballots must be postmarked and received no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day. But then-Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf wanted to allow ballots to be counted as long as they arrived by Nov. 6—three days after the election, and used the COVID-19 pandemic as a rationale. Republican legislators challenged that policy in court.
The Democratic majority on the partisan, elected state Supreme Court decided in a 4-3 ruling to allow mail-in votes to be counted that arrived by Nov. 6, and declared that if postmarks or dates are missing or illegible, the ballots would be “presumed to have been mailed by Election Day” unless evidence shows otherwise.
The Wolf extension was still expected to be an emergency measure that would not affect future elections, and the deadline has returned to the close of polls. However, last week, a Pennsylvania state appeals court ruled that ballots must be counted even if a voter puts the wrong date on the return envelope.
North Carolina previously counted ballots that arrived up to three days after the election. In 2023, it passed a measure requiring mail-in ballots must be received by 7:30 p.m. on election night.
Blue-leaning Virginia, closer this year than in recent past presidential contests, has previously counted ballots that arrive up to three days after the election.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation “has blocked Virginia from accepting ballots with postmarks after the election,” Adams said, referring to a 2020 lawsuit.
Virginia entered into a consent decree in early 2021 to permanently prevent the State Board of Elections from accepting absentee ballots up to three days after Election Day if the postmarks are not clear.
Honest Elections Project Executive Director Jason Snead supports ballots being received no later than the close of polls on Election Day.
“It’s best to have results on election night,” Snead said. “The concept of extending the ballot deadline as long as you have a postmark by the deadline is a problem. Many states are doing prepaid postage, so fewer envelopes are going to have postmarks on the envelopes at all.”
Five Things New “Preppers” Forget When Getting Ready for Bad Times Ahead
The preparedness community is growing faster than it has in decades. Even during peak times such as Y2K, the economic downturn of 2008, and Covid, the vast majority of Americans made sure they had plenty of toilet paper but didn’t really stockpile anything else.
Things have changed. There’s a growing anxiety in this presidential election year that has prompted more Americans to get prepared for crazy events in the future. Some of it is being driven by fearmongers, but there are valid concerns with the economy, food supply, pharmaceuticals, the energy grid, and mass rioting that have pushed average Americans into “prepper” mode.
There are degrees of preparedness. One does not have to be a full-blown “doomsday prepper” living off-grid in a secure Montana bunker in order to be ahead of the curve. In many ways, preparedness isn’t about being able to perfectly handle every conceivable situation. It’s about being less dependent on government for as long as possible. Those who have proper “preps” will not be waiting for FEMA to distribute emergency supplies to the desperate masses.
Below are five things people new to preparedness (and sometimes even those with experience) often forget as they get ready. All five are common sense notions that do not rely on doomsday in order to be useful. It may be nice to own a tank during the apocalypse but there’s not much you can do with it until things get really crazy. The recommendations below can have places in the lives of average Americans whether doomsday comes or not.
Note: The information provided by this publication or any related communications is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice. We do not provide personalized investment, financial, or legal advice.
Secured Wealth
Whether in the bank or held in a retirement account, most Americans feel that their life’s savings is relatively secure. At least they did until the last couple of years when de-banking, geopolitical turmoil, and the threat of Central Bank Digital Currencies reared their ugly heads.
It behooves Americans to diversify their holdings. If there’s a triggering event or series of events that cripple the financial systems or devalue the U.S. Dollar, wealth can evaporate quickly. To hedge against potential turmoil, many Americans are looking in two directions: Crypto and physical precious metals.
There are huge advantages to cryptocurrencies, but there are also inherent risks because “virtual” money can become challenging to spend. Add in the push by central banks and governments to regulate or even replace cryptocurrencies with their own versions they control and the risks amplify. There’s nothing wrong with cryptocurrencies today but things can change rapidly.
As for physical precious metals, many Americans pay cash to keep plenty on hand in their safe. Rolling over or transferring retirement accounts into self-directed IRAs is also a popular option, but there are caveats. It can often take weeks or even months to get the gold and silver shipped if the owner chooses to close their account. This is why Genesis Gold Group stands out. Their relationship with the depositories allows for rapid closure and shipping, often in less than 10 days from the time the account holder makes their move. This can come in handy if things appear to be heading south.
Lots of Potable Water
One of the biggest shocks that hit new preppers is understanding how much potable water they need in order to survive. Experts claim one gallon of water per person per day is necessary. Even the most conservative estimates put it at over half-a-gallon. That means that for a family of four, they’ll need around 120 gallons of water to survive for a month if the taps turn off and the stores empty out.
Being near a fresh water source, whether it’s a river, lake, or well, is a best practice among experienced preppers. It’s necessary to have a water filter as well, even if the taps are still working. Many refuse to drink tap water even when there is no emergency. Berkey was our previous favorite but they’re under attack from regulators so the Alexapure systems are solid replacements.
For those in the city or away from fresh water sources, storage is the best option. This can be challenging because proper water storage containers take up a lot of room and are difficult to move if the need arises. For “bug in” situations, having a larger container that stores hundreds or even thousands of gallons is better than stacking 1-5 gallon containers. Unfortunately, they won’t be easily transportable and they can cost a lot to install.
Water is critical. If chaos erupts and water infrastructure is compromised, having a large backup supply can be lifesaving.
Pharmaceuticals and Medical Supplies
There are multiple threats specific to the medical supply chain. With Chinese and Indian imports accounting for over 90% of pharmaceutical ingredients in the United States, deteriorating relations could make it impossible to get the medicines and antibiotics many of us need.
Stocking up many prescription medications can be hard. Doctors generally do not like to prescribe large batches of drugs even if they are shelf-stable for extended periods of time. It is a best practice to ask your doctor if they can prescribe a larger amount. Today, some are sympathetic to concerns about pharmacies running out or becoming inaccessible. Tell them your concerns. It’s worth a shot. The worst they can do is say no.
If your doctor is unwilling to help you stock up on medicines, then Jase Medical is a good alternative. Through telehealth, they can prescribe daily meds or antibiotics that are shipped to your door. As proponents of medical freedom, they empathize with those who want to have enough medical supplies on hand in case things go wrong.
Energy Sources
The vast majority of Americans are locked into the grid. This has proven to be a massive liability when the grid goes down. Unfortunately, there are no inexpensive remedies.
Those living off-grid had to either spend a lot of money or effort (or both) to get their alternative energy sources like solar set up. For those who do not want to go so far, it’s still a best practice to have backup power sources. Diesel generators and portable solar panels are the two most popular, and while they’re not inexpensive they are not out of reach of most Americans who are concerned about being without power for extended periods of time.
Natural gas is another necessity for many, but that’s far more challenging to replace. Having alternatives for heating and cooking that can be powered if gas and electric grids go down is important. Have a backup for items that require power such as manual can openers. If you’re stuck eating canned foods for a while and all you have is an electric opener, you’ll have problems.
Don’t Forget the Protein
When most think about “prepping,” they think about their food supply. More Americans are turning to gardening and homesteading as ways to produce their own food. Others are working with local farmers and ranchers to purchase directly from the sources. This is a good idea whether doomsday comes or not, but it’s particularly important if the food supply chain is broken.
Most grocery stores have about one to two weeks worth of food, as do most American households. Grocers rely heavily on truckers to receive their ongoing shipments. In a crisis, the current process can fail. It behooves Americans for multiple reasons to localize their food purchases as much as possible.
Long-term storage is another popular option. Canned foods, MREs, and freeze dried meals are selling out quickly even as prices rise. But one component that is conspicuously absent in shelf-stable food is high-quality protein. Most survival food companies offer low quality “protein buckets” or cans of meat, but they are often barely edible.
Prepper All-Naturals offers premium cuts of steak that have been cooked sous vide and freeze dried to give them a 25-year shelf life. They offer Ribeye, NY Strip, and Tenderloin among others.
Having buckets of beans and rice is a good start, but keeping a solid supply of high-quality protein isn’t just healthier. It can help a family maintain normalcy through crises.
Prepare Without Fear
With all the challenges we face as Americans today, it can be emotionally draining. Citizens are scared and there’s nothing irrational about their concerns. Being prepared and making lifestyle changes to secure necessities can go a long way toward overcoming the fears that plague us. We should hope and pray for the best but prepare for the worst. And if the worst does come, then knowing we did what we could to be ready for it will help us face those challenges with confidence.
