Maine’s primary election has been re-scheduled for July 14, which also raises questions about the Nov. 2 general election. That uncertainty has given politicians at the national level the opportunity to propose voting by mail-in ballots. One of those, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, stated in a Breitbart article that “vote-by-mail is an ‘essential’ part of protecting America’s democracy.”

In a New York Times article, David J. Becker of the Center for Election Innovation and Research was quoted as saying, “Voting by mail is voting without a safety net.”

Security and integrity of our constitutional right and privilege to vote should be our primary concern. That can be done only by in-person voting at the local town voting place, or making an in-person request for an absentee ballot. Period.

Mail-in voting is not inherently bad, but is subject to fraud, especially in the way it is conducted. Georgia, for example, has declared that its June 2020 primary will be conducted by mail, but will be sending ballots only to registered, active voters.

The best way to secure the mail-in vote would be for each voter to send in a request for a ballot to their town clerk, including a signature — a method recommended by Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow with The Heritage Foundation.

Finally, the local town clerk conducts the voting and should be deferred to when determining the best way to vote, keeping in mind that direct, in-person voting is the “gold standard.”

Robert Casimiro, Bridgton