© Rick Bowmer/AP Election workers process returned voted ballots in the Salt Lake County Government Center, in Salt Lake City on Oct. 31, 2018. Utah residents and candidates will have to wait patiently after Election Night because the state's deliberate vote release schedule recommends counties wait three days before posting more results.

As COVID-19 cases mount in Alabama and make public health a factor in democratic processes, there are growing calls for expanded mail-in voting in Alabama.

Both U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell and U.S. Sen. Doug Jones called for expansion of mail-in voting after Gov. Kay Ivey Wednesday moved the state’s primary runoff election from March 31 to July 14 due to fears of transmissions of the disease.

“This crisis underscores how difficult it is for Alabamians to make their voices heard at the ballot box and should be a wake-up call for our state leaders,” Sewell said in a statement.

Alabama is one of roughly 19 states that require valid excuses for individuals to cast absentee ballots. Democrats in the Alabama House of Representatives filed 3 bills over the last month to allow no-excuse absentee voting. Under those proposals, the only requirement to vote absentee would be applying 5 days before an election. All 3 bills await committee action.

Ivey and Secretary of State John Merrill have encouraged the use of absentee ballots in the July 14th runoffs. Merrill said at a press conference Wednesday that they classified the COVID-19 outbreak as an “illness or infirmity” that would justify the casting of an absentee ballot.

More: Gov. Kay Ivey postpones Alabama primary runoffs until July because of coronavirus concern

COVID-19 might force officials to expand mail-in balloting if the outbreak continues to freeze public life. Besides concerns for voter safety, many poll workers are retirees in the high-risk group for the virus. Montgomery County Probate Judge J.C. Love said last week that the average age of the county poll workers was 72. And concerns about exposure are justified, said Charles Stewart, a political science professor at MIT.

“In the United States, you have 700 people come into a polling place on average and the poll workers are exposed to all of them,” he said.

But expanding mail-in options — even if public health demands it – would take time and resources. It would require a rethinking of how and when ballots and counted, and it would almost certainly require more people to count and receive the ballots.

© Jake Crandall/ Advertiser Secretary of State John Merrill speaks during a press conference at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday, March 18, 2020.

“The Legislature can probably amend the election code pretty easily, probably with few paragraphs,” said Trey Hood, a political science professor at the University of Georgia. “But then it’s an implementation problem, and it’s county by county.”

Just moving to no-excuse balloting, Stewart said, could double the total number of absentee ballots received. Even if that meant absentees moved from 5% of all ballots to 10% of all ballots, that would likely require increased staff to handle the new submissions. He also said states should consider easing requirements that only allow the counting of ballots on election day, to handle volumes of submissions.

"If you can process ballots beforehand, it smooths out the work and reduces the number of staff you need to manage mail load," Stewart said.

Stewart also said several states have implemented systems that allow voters to track where their ballots are, an investment he says could lead to “peace of mind” for those participating.

“The states of Colorado, Washington and Oregon have invested in a system that informed voters when their ballot has been mailed to them and allows them to track that ballot once it has been placed in the mail,” he said. “It’s a good investment.”

In a larger-scale system, officials would have to ensure coverage for all people, including those who may live at “bad addresses,” or addresses the postal system does not recognize. States with mail-in voting also have a large percentage of voters that prefer to deliver their ballots in person. The 2016 Survey of the Performance of American Elections (SPAE) found 59% of Oregon voters submitted their votes in person, while 73% of those in Colorado did so.

COVID-19 could change those patterns, Stewart said, but he said he thought most people would choose to drive somewhere to cast their ballot, even with no excuse voting.

“My guess is most people would still go to an in-person polling place,” he said. “Just fewer of them would … you would need to staff polling places and need staff to manage the ballots.”

In addition, said Hood, an opt-in system would differ from states that have mail-in systems.

© Jake Crandall/ Advertiser Voters make their way to the polls at Montgomery Museum of Fine Art in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday, March 3, 2020.

“What they do is they just send the ballot to everyone on the voter registration list,” he said. “That’s completely different from a state like Georgia, where the state says 'we’re going to have this system, but it’s up to the voter to decide where they want it or not.'”

Merrill said on Wednesday any move to expanded mail-in options would need deliberate consideration. He said he had spoken to secretaries of state in states that use mail-in voting dealing with struggles with the outbreak.

“They have a fulfillment house,” he said. “They have employees that are not showing up.”

Stewart said mail-in systems chiefly improve turnout in local and off-year elections. But the outbreak, he said could change things.

The chief advantage of putting in the system, said Hood, was “I may be a way to hold an election without spreading COVID-19.”

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman at 334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Coronavirus outbreak increases calls for mail-in voting in Alabama