Idaho should move to all-mail voting for the November election. That means mailing a ballot to every registered voter in Idaho.
But to do so, state officials need to act quickly to give county clerks ample time to prepare.
Voting by mail is the right thing to do for a number of reasons, the most obvious being public health concerns during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Vote-by-mail is also convenient and will be cost-effective, and likely will lead to higher voter turnout.
Idaho has been using absentee ballots since absentee voting was added to state law in 1970. Idaho proved that it can pull off an all-mail vote, as it did in the May primary, albeit with some glitches. Voting by mail in November would be easier than it was in the May primary because there are not partisan ballots in the general election.
Finally, our multiple layers of security checks provide a high degree of protection against voter fraud.
Vote-by-mail should be extended beyond the COVID-19 crisis and become the norm in Idaho. But most immediately, Idaho should switch to vote-by-mail for November, out of health and safety concerns.