Why Authoritarians Fear Voting By Mail

Why Authoritarians Fear Voting By Mail Niles Heckman

The mentally weak authoritarian hates (which is really fears) voting by mail because it's democratic - because that particular voting mechanism loosens the physical and psychological control surrounding the act of voting, opening it up to more citizens. The polling place is a bounded space. It has a time, a location, an atmosphere, officials, observers, procedures, and bad lighting - You arrive, perform the ritual, and leave, and we've talked about how claims of voter fraud are dog whistle for voter suppression, part of that suppression is making it harder to do even that basic process. 

Voting by mail moves the political act out of that controlled theater and into a more open sphere. You can fill it out when you aren't exhausted from work in late stage de-regulated capital mixed with late stage empire, when you aren't worried about the time it's gonna take, transportation, or childcare. Mail voting actually gives democratic society something authoritarianism hates and thus fears: options via more time. It takes time to be part of the democratic process. It takes us at least a full day, if not a couple days to look into and research every candidate on a local or national ballot. And it should take you that much time as well. Then we need space to participate without having to rearrange our entire life that week or month around the machinery of one single Election Day. Which matters enormously. 

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