Mail-in ballots have made our election tallying a national embarrassment

Elon Musk can land a rocket booster back at the launch tower seven minutes after it takes off, but swing states can’t count votes in a timely manner. 

Unlike recovering a rocket booster, vote-counting is not complicated and requires no advanced engineering. 

We’ve managed to do it expeditiously and accurately through all of our history, yet it is at this moment — when Donald Trump will cast doubt on any result he doesn’t like, and trust in our institutions is low — that we’ve hobbled our own ability to complete this simple task in key swing states.