WESTFIELD – Westfield State University students are exploring different ways to vote in the 2020 presidential election on November 3rd amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Mail-in balloting has gained popularity in response to the pandemic; however, President Trump’s administration has raised concerns of voter fraud in the upcoming election due to the possibility of mail-in ballots being tampered with.

Madison Czerniawski, a senior at Westfield State, does not agree with this assessment. “Studies and data refute the idea that mail-in voting is a bad thing for our country, so I am confident in this particular voting system and will use this at my discretion,” Czerniawski said.

There has been an effort on campus to register students to vote by MASSPIRG, a public interest advocacy group. Student volunteers have given presentations to encourage their peers to vote in the upcoming election, and to provide them information about their voting options.

Some students are using mail-in ballots because they live far away from campus.

Caty Rigby, a sophomore at Westfield State University, stated that an informational presentation given during her Honor’s Discovery Seminar helped her decide how she wanted to vote in the upcoming election.

“I’m using a mail-in ballot… I live 2 hours away from campus,” Rigby said.

Some students feel that voting in person is no different from going anywhere else, and would rather go to their local polling place than risk mail-in ballots.

“I’m comfortable voting in person. I think that with all the precautions, it will be safe,” said Jonah Yeakley, a business major at Westfield State.

A small sample of Westfield State students indicated that generally speaking, mail-in balloting seems no different than any other means of voting when it comes to the possibility of voter fraud.

“A lot of people seem to be concerned with their ballot/vote being tampered with if it’s mailed in,” Yeakley said. “I would certainly say that to a certain extent I understand that, it’s not something I’d want to risk, albeit it’s difficult to happen.”

There has been a massive shift towards mail-in ballots due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a high volume of early voting. On September 29, 2020, President Trump blasted mail-in ballots during the first presidential debate.

“These ballots are going to be all over,” he said. “This is going to be a fraud like you’ve never seen.”

President Trump has consistently criticized mail-in balloting, claiming there will be increased opportunities for voter fraud. However, at this time there is no clear evidence supporting this claim.

Due to the mixed signals and varied information on mail-in balloting, some people feel uneasy and would prefer to stick to the classic method of voting in-person.

 “I don’t see why voting is different, it’s shorter than going to the grocery store. Everything is going to be sanitized. You’re in and you’re out, it’s quick. I don’t like the idea of doing mail-in ballots,” Yeakley said.

For more information on your voting options, please visit https://www.cityofwestfield.org/222/Elections-Voting.