Who Has Emergency Authority Over Elections? Nobody’s Quite Sure. (ProPublica): “A lack of clear lines of authority, and the powerlessness of state and local officials with the most experience managing elections, are fostering paralysis and tugs of war. They also raise concerns that, if shelter-at-home orders persist into the fall, states may struggle to adopt alternatives such as voting by mail or drive-by voting in time for the presidential election.”
Trump, GOP challenge efforts to make voting easier amid coronavirus pandemic (WaPo): President Trump and a growing number of Republican leaders are aggressively challenging efforts to make voting easier as the coronavirus pandemic disrupts elections, accusing Democrats of opening the door to fraud — and, in some cases, admitting fears that expanded voting access could politically devastate the GOP.
Wisconsin’s Warning for the Pandemic Election (The Atlantic): How are people expected to vote if they’re not supposed to even leave their homes?
Get Ready for Guerrilla Warfare on Voting Rules (New York Magazine): The refusal of congressional Republicans (and/or the Trump administration) to allow robust federal assistance to state and local election authorities, tied to a mandate for safer in-person and expanded by-mail voting by November, was one sign of the battle to come.
More voting by mail would make the 2020 election safer for our health. But it comes with risks of its own. (WaPo): “As the novel coronavirus pandemic besieges the United States, more and more observers are suggesting that November’s votes should be cast by mail — allowing the least possible in-person contact, reducing health risks to both voters and poll workers. But shifting millions of voters to mail balloting would bring other risks.”
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