In America, your absentee ballot is more likely to be counted if you’re white

A RECORD NUMBER of Americans are expected to vote by mail in this year’s presidential election. That is due, in no small part, to the covid-19 pandemic, but it is also the result of a long-term shift toward early and absentee voting. Activists argue that increasing access to such alternative forms of voting helps to make voting more convenient—eg, by removing the need to stand in a long queue at the polling station, or to spend hours away from work and family. According to Michael McDonald, a political scientist at...