Benjamin Hovland, chair of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission, said at an Axios virtual event on Tuesday that "helping to spread out voting over all of the options" — whether it's mail-in ballots, early voting or in-person Election Day voting — is crucial to limiting congestion and making it as safe as possible for voters and poll workers.
The big picture: Hovland said that in this unprecedented election year, which is likely to see a record number of mail-in ballots due to the pandemic, it is important that Americans pick the option that's best and safest for them.
- He stressed that mail-in voting is "very safe," but cautioned that "there are more pieces of the process involved" — including meeting certain deadlines and following ballot instructions carefully.
- If voters haven't already requested a mail-in ballot with two weeks to go until the election, Hovland said "that may not be the best way — or you'll want to do that immediately."
- Hovland also recommended submitting mail-in ballots as soon as possible, even if voters' particular state allows them to postmark their ballot by Election Day.
What he's saying: "About 25% of Americans vote by mail in a normal year, or in 2016. So we're going to see an increase probably closer to half, but that's all it really is — an increase in a trusted voting method that we've been using for years," Hovland told Axios' Margaret Talev.
- "But then also we're seeing a surge in early in-person voting. Between those, we're already at around 30 million Americans that have already voted in the 2020 election, which is pretty remarkable."
- "There were about 140 million people that voted for president in 2016. You're seeing voters very enthusiastic. We're likely to see records in a number of places. But you also see voters spreading out through those options that I talked about earlier. ... The biggest thing is really to find that way you're comfortable voting."
Go deeper: Read Axios' deep dive on race and voting in America
