The right and honest brokers on the left agree that vote by mail by itself is a flawed voting system.  It has problems with voter error, delivery issues, chain of custody, fraud and more.  In-person voting is the best option for most voters (though some additional absentee voting may be needed to respond to the unique challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic). 

However, we never expected to see support for in-person voting over vote by mail come from liberal stalwart Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:

It is completely wrong for the BOE to cancel New York’s Presidential Primary.

This decision is not informed by public health: the state is still holding elections for every other seat that day, & so far the only way your ballot will 100% be counted in NY is to vote in person! https://t.co/l8iT7mxm9c

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 27, 2020

At the same time Democrats are pushing federal support of vote by mail or even bills calling for nationwide vote by mail, an interesting thing happened in Nevada.  As RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel points out in an excellent op-ed that discussed Democrat Party lawyer Marc Elias' tactics:

Democrats demand in-person voting be expanded in Nevada, after just claiming it was too dangerous to go to the polls in Wisconsin. Last week, Elias called in-person voting a “national disgrace.” Now, Elias says “converting to an all-mail election in a matter of weeks” is impossible, and voting must be expanded “safely in person.” Nice of them to catch up to the fact that one-size-fits-all nationalized mail-in voting is a bad idea.

Shame on you, Speaker Pelosi.  At a time when Americans were coming together, she blew up the bipartisan coronavirus relief package for her legislative desires. 

Senate spends all weekend negotiating a bipartisan deal. Agreement reached. Pelosi flies in from California, whips out her unrelated “wishlist,” and says no. Senate Democrats then vote against proceeding on a bill they negotiated.

Jaw dropping.

— Ben Williamson (@_WilliamsonBen) March 22, 2020

As states likely expand the use of mail ballots in response to the COVID-19 breakout, they need to also protect the integrity of mail ballots to prevent both the appearance of impropriety and actual fraud this November.  Lawyers Democracy Fund published a study last year by current Republican federal Election Assistance Commission(EAC) Commissioner Don Palmer (before he joined the EAC), describing some of the steps needed to protect the integrity of mail ballots and improve voter confidence in mail voting:

Many residents in California are voting twice and it’s time for Secretary of State Alex Padilla to stop ignoring the problem. This flaw in their system has been an issue for years and the integrity of our elections is at stake.

Yesterday was an emotional hearing of the North Carolina election board that generated a fair result, a new election for North Carolina’s ninth Congressional District as a result of ballot harvesting. “Ballot harvesting” is a practice in which paid or organized political operatives collect absentee ballots from voters to whom they have no familial connection and drop them off at a polling place or election office. As happened in North Carolina, critics complain that such actions leave open opportunities for tampering and taking advantage of society’s most vulnerable and those who have no interest in voting.

New Mexico has yet again proven that the feudal system and political corruption is alive and well in the Land of Enchantment. On election night, Republican Yvette Herrell led Democrat Xochitl Torres Small by 1,972 votes and was declared a winner by several news outlets, but then the Dona Ana County Clerk found 8,000 absentee ballots that still needed to be added to the total. By the end of Wednesday, Torres Small had a substantial, 2,700 vote lead over Herrell; therefore making Torres Small the winner, not Herrell.