After all the media fearmongering about the need for a predominantly mail-in voting system for this year's general election, MSNBC on Monday afternoon finally discovered the danger that a significant number of voters might be disenfranchised under such a system. Correspondent Shaquille Brewster filed a full report on the subject.
Host Ayman Mohyeldin set up the piece by recalling that "the number of returned ballots being rejected" is "on the rise," and noted that Brewster has spent time at a Kentucky clerk's office "where decisions are being made about which ballots to reject and which to accept."
Brewster began by noting that the recent increases in voting by mail in some states has "revealed a new issue" that is need of correcting before Election Day, and then went to the case of a voter in Kentucky named Travis Tackett whose mail-in ballot was rejected for some reason and returned to him too late for him to re-submit it: "Several days before Kentucky's June primary, Travis Tackett cast his ballot by mail to protect his immune-compromised roommate."
Then came a clip of the NBC News correspondent speaking with the Kentucky voter about his failed attempt to vote by mail:
BREWSTER: Several days before Kentucky's June primary, Travis Tackett cast his ballot by mail to protect his immune-compromised roommate. And then election day comes -- you think you voted?
TRAVIS TACKETT, KENTUCKY VOTER: Yeah, I even got the sticker saying I voted.
BREWSTER: But, then, he got a letter from the county clerk, telling him his vote didn't count.
TACKETT: What really infuriated me was that this came in around July 5th -- it told me to verify my signature and have it returned by June 29th.
The NBC News correspondent then elaborated:
BREWSTER: To stop the coronavirus, states like Kentucky slashed in-person polling locations but expanded absentee voting. Votes by mail jumped, but so did the issues with those ballots -- 102,000 votes tossed in California; nearly 20,000 rejected in battlegrounds Ohio and Florida; and, in Kentucky, more than 32,000. The most common issues -- missed deadlines, unsealed envelopes, and missing signatures.
He was then seen speaking with Pike County clerk Rhonda Taylor and one of her assistants, Danny Coleman, as they discussed their efforts to review mail-in ballots and give as much leeway as they can to accept the ballots as legitimate votes.
A few months ago, former George W. Bush administration speech writer and Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen notably warned about the history of mail-in ballots going uncounted in past elections as well as other problems and challenges with trying to switch to a mail-in system in such a short time.
Brewster's report concluded with him reassuring viewers that they should not be concerned about the problems and should just vote early, even though procrastination is a very commonplace trait that many voters will no doubt still exhibit.
The episode of MSNBC Live with Ayman Mohyeldin was sponsored by Safelite and SimpliSafe. Their contact information is linked.
Below is a complete transcript of the report from the Monday, August 17, MSNBC Live with Ayman Mohyeldin:
3:30 p.m. Eastern
AYMAN MOHYELDIN: A brand new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that 30 percent of voters say they plan to vote by mail this year amid the coronavirus pandemic. Also on the rise, the number of returned ballots being rejected. Joining me now from Joe Biden's hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, is NBC's Shaquille Brewster. He recently spent time inside a Kentucky clerk's office where decisions are being made about which ballots to reject and which to accept. Shaq, what did you learn?
SHAQUILLE BREWSTER: Ayman, you know, this summer, we saw many states scramble to expand their vote-by-mail options, so many voters use vote-by-mail for the very first time. And, while that expanded that safe access to the polls during this coronavirus pandemic, it also revealed a new issue, one that many groups are now working quickly to correct ahead of November.
Several days before Kentucky's June primary, Travis Tackett cast his ballot by mail to protect his immune-compromised roommate. And then election day comes -- you think you voted?
TRAVIS TACKETT, KENTUCKY VOTER: Yeah, I even got the sticker saying I voted.
BREWSTER: But, then, he got a letter from the county clerk, telling him his vote didn't count.
TACKETT: What really infuriated me was that this came in around July 5th -- it told me to verify my signature and have it returned by June 29th.
BREWSTER: To stop the coronavirus, states like Kentucky slashed in-person polling locations but expanded absentee voting. Votes by mail jumped, but so did the issues with those ballots -- 102,000 votes tossed in California; nearly 20,000 rejected in battlegrounds Ohio and Florida; and, in Kentucky, more than 32,000. The most common issues -- missed deadlines, unsealed envelopes, and missing signatures.
In East Kentucky's Pike County -- home to around 60,000 people including Travis -- his tossed ballot was a decision made here in the clerk's office where they've seen a 1,600 percent increase in requests for mail-in ballots.
RHONDA TAYLOR, PIKE COUNTY CLERK: There were three days I never went to bed here. I stayed here day and night.
BREWSTER: County Clerk Rhonda Taylor was able to use emergency federal funding to hire additional staff like Danny Coleman to scrutinize more than 5,000 absentee ballots.
DANNY COLEMAN, PIKE COUNTY ELECTION WORKER: I did not want to let any vote not count.
BREWSTER: They say often giving voters the benefit of the doubt. If it looked a little bit wet, if it looked a little bit peeled, that ballot still is counted.
COLEMAN: You can go by the smears.
TAYLOR: Yeah, you can hold it up to the light and tell if, you know, there's been any tampering at all.
BREWSTER: Even a small percentage of rejections is raising alarm bells for November.
MYRNA PEREZ, BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE: It's a significant problem, but it's also a problem that we can fix because we can identify it.
BREWSTER: A new priority for Bear Bellinger, already going door-to-door in Wisconsin -- a state President Trump won by fewer than 23,000 votes.
BEAR BELLINGER, PROGRESSIVE VOTER TURNOUT: Sign up for vote-by-mail just so -- in case things spike.
BREWSTER: In April's widely-criticized primary, more than 79,000 late-arriving ballots were only counted because of a court order.
BELLINGER: One of the things I've been emphasizing with folks is, if they haven't already signed up to vote by mail, do that as quickly as possible.
BREWSTER: Getting out the vote and making sure every vote counts. And, Ayman, it is important to note that, when you talk to election clerks and election experts, they're not saying that you should not go and vote by mail -- they're saying instead, if you do, make sure you return that ballot early and follow those precise instructions very carefully.
