Why would anyone whose state allows mail-in and early voting, not do it?

[Retrograde]

44. These are all solved problems - if the states want to solve them

Don't trust the mails? Afraid the ballot will go missing? California tracks ballots from the time they're sent out to the time they're counted and voters can opt to get email notifications when key milestones are met.

Signatures vary? California updates the signatures on file with data from other agencies - notably the DMV - so they're looking at the most recent ones. In addition, election workers are trained in how to match signatures - the more experienced ones in at least my county get FBI training on what to look for, per our registrar's interview last cycle.

Need a witness or two? States can change that if they really want to encourage new forms of voting.

All the i's not dotted or t's not crossed? Election officials know who and where the voters are. Again from an interview with the county registrar, they can and do try to contact the voter to resolve problems (which is why California can take so long to certify results)

The West Coast states manage to run mail-in elections with millions of voters in big geographic areas, and much as I'd like to think otherwise, we're really not smarter than people in the rest of the country. If Westerners (ok, and the couple of states back east) can run smooth elections so can the rest of the country. It comes down to wanting fair and easy elections and making it easier for voters to cast their ballots for the people they want, not the people that the entities who control the states want.

Step one: start with the states' Secretaries of State, or whoever controls elections. Get Democrats in those seats!

Now to narrow down the seemingly identical city council candidates so I can send in my ballot this weekend