MEMPHIS, Tennessee —
In Friday's Ransom Note, Tennessee's curious resistance to mail-in voting.
Thursday night, a Nashville judge ruled that due to the coronavirus pandemic, Tennessee would need to provide all 4.1 million voters with mail-in ballots so they could vote absentee without giving a reason.
For some reason, this, like all other things, has become political, and the state election commissioner is telling local officials to hold-off, suggesting a court fight.
Here are the facts. 5 states already have universal all-mail voting for all elections. Incidents of fraud in all those states is less than incidents of people who try to vote fraudulently at the polls. 29 states allow you to request an absentee ballot for any reason, but Tennessee is one of only 5 states that will not allow the fear of coronavirus as a reason to vote absentee.
Wisconsin had its primary in April. It was a huge mess, and dozens of people caught COVID-19, including poll workers. Which might explain why Tennessee has launched a campaign to recruit poll workers. Would you want to work an election for little pay and take that risk?