MEMPHIS, Tenn. — This is going to be a pip.
Early voting is underway. Election Day is August 6th.
There are already complaints. Most of the complaints are about absentee voting.
Thousands of people want to vote by mail because of COVID-19.
A Nashville judge ruled fear of the virus was and is a legitimate reason to vote absentee.
It joins the other reasons: you have to be 60 or older, you have to prove you’re going to be out of town.
All the reasons are supposed to be printed on a postcard. Not just a select few. It’s got law professor Steve Mulroy upset.
He talked to County Commissioners, saying, “I can tell you as recently as last week, postcards were still being sent out by Shelby County to voters which said you must be over 60, you’re incapacitated or out of town, not mentioning COVID. And this is alarming because as far back as June 25th, the court specified you can’t do that. You can’t list some excuses and not COVID because that’s misleading.”
And get this. People are already complaining about not receiving ballots.
Former candidate Erika Sugarmon went to a Shelby County Elections Commission meeting with those complaints.
“And their response was that they are sending them out by precincts, not as they come in. For example, a voter in Raleigh sent in an absentee ballot request in May and still has not received their absentee ballot.”
This is one reason why Elections Administrator Linda Phillips is telling voters to mail their requests in right now and don’t wait until the July 30th deadline.
Again, election day is August 6th.
