Election Day lines would be a coronavirus nightmare. Texas, here’s a better plan

The novel coronavirus threatens nearly everything about our everyday lives. First and foremost, it’s a public health crisis. But given that we’re in a major presidential election year, it also threatens the ability for everyone to participate in our democracy.

Texas — along with every other state — needs to figure out how to keep elections running without putting voters’ health at risk.

Given the most recent social-distancing guidelines, in-person voting will be unsafe for the foreseeable future. Several states have correctly decided to delay upcoming elections, including Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott announced that the May 26 primary runoff elections would be delayed until July 14.

Delaying elections is a fine step for now, but it is not an option for November. We need to take full advantage of the time we have to get the right systems in place to ensure that every eligible voter can cast a ballot.

Texas has contingency plans for voting in the event of a natural disaster or a power outage, but we’re simply not prepared to successfully run an election amid COVID-19, when many people going to the polls at the same time is a public health risk.

That’s why we need to immediately set up emergency universal absentee voting — not only for the upcoming July elections, but also for the November general election, just in case.

If physically going to the polls were still unsafe due to COVID-19, emergency universal absentee voting would allow a state to directly mail all registered voters an absentee ballot. That way, Texas voters could fill out their ballot from the comfort and safety of their own homes and mail it back in to be counted.

Absentee voting, or voting from home, is not a new concept. States that allow it have varying policies for who can request an absentee ballot. Texas has one of the most restrictive absentee voting policies in the country, only allowing seniors, disabled people, people in jail or those traveling out of town to request an absentee ballot.

Because COVID-19 puts the health of every Texan at risk, our state’s stringent absentee voting policy is unworkable. State elected officials should move quickly to make Texas a “no-excuse” absentee voting state so anyone can request an absentee ballot.

Then, they should start building up the infrastructure to be able to mail every voter a ballot in the event that in-person voting in November is still a public health risk.

We have the tools to ensure everyone in Texas can vote more safely and easily, whether in the midst of a public health crisis or not. We can learn from states that already have extensive mail-in voting, including Arizona and Utah. The technology and infrastructure can be shared across state lines.

State primaries and the general election can still move forward even if COVID-19 persists, but only if we take these common sense steps now to ensure we have a safe way for people to vote.

Our democracy depends on participation, and implementing emergency universal absentee voting in Texas would be a huge step toward ensuring all eligible voters can still participate.