Tag: vote by mail

Federal leaders must get behind absentee voting — or explain why they’d prefer chaos

Washington Post logoA MONMOUTH University poll released Wednesday found that only 16 percent of voters cast ballots by mail in recent elections, yet 51 percent say it is at least somewhat likely that they will do so in November. As the covid-19 pandemic continues, more people will conclude absentee voting is the safest option. And they will be right.

But much of the country is not ready for a surge of absentee voters. Federal leaders must help immediately — or explain why they instead prefer an unsafe and chaotic November election.

Ill-preparedness could produce electoral calamity. Sixteen states require absentee voters to have a valid excuse. All of these states should declare that coronavirus fears qualify as one. But that’s just a first step. Serving millions of new absentee voters will be a massive logistical challenge for most states. Continue reading.

Republicans May Undermine Mail-In Voting Just By Running Down The Clock

The coronavirus pandemic could lead to a surge of absentee ballot requests. But time is running out for elections officials to act.

President Donald Trump urged Republicans to “fight very hard” against mail-in elections during the coronavirus pandemic — but the party’s most effective tactic to impede absentee voting may be just quietly running down the clock.

The handful of American vendors that sell mail-in election equipment told BuzzFeed News they have been flooded with phone calls this month from local election officials who anticipate a surge of requests for absentee ballots. More Americans than ever are expected to try voting from home in the general election, particularly after seeing crowds at polling sites during Wisconsin’s primary, which health officials have now linked to 19 new infections of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Yet the companies can’t sell the thing election officials need most: time. Continue reading.

Vote-by-mail states don’t see the rampant fraud that alarms Trump

Security measures track ballots and voters, but took years to implement

States are expecting an increase in voters wanting to mail in their ballots as the coronavirus pandemic has made in-person voting potentially dangerous. And some — most notably the president — have questioned whether mail-in ballots are secure.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly said voting by mail has a high potential for voter fraud, despite recently casting an absentee ballot in Florida himself. But officials in states that conduct elections entirely by mail say fraud is extremely rare, and they also have measures in place to protect against ballot tampering.

The question for other states is whether, and how quickly, they can ramp up similar protections ahead of November. Continue reading.

Tucker Carlson attacks Michelle Obama and says she’s trying to ‘destroy’ American democracy

AlterNet logoFox News host Tucker Carlson claimed Tuesday that former first lady Michelle Obama’s support for mail-in voting could “destroy” American democracy.

“Former first lady Michelle Obama is using this crisis to promote the radical expansion of nationwide voting by mail,” Carlson said. “Citizens could request ballots online and then print them at home. Now, no serious person at the national level has ever suggested doing that before, because of course, it would instantly destroy the public’s faith in election outcomes, and hence, our democracy. But if there was ever a time to sneak something this disruptive past a beleaguered and distracted population, this is it.”

Obama and When We All Vote, the non-partisan voter registration organization she co-chairs, released a statement Monday arguing that “Americans should never have to choose between making their voices heard and keeping themselves and their families safe. Expanding access to vote-by-mail, online voter registration and early voting are critical steps for this moment — and they’re long overdue.” Continue reading.

Pandemic spurs court fights over mail-in voting

The Hill logoElection officials are scrambling ahead of the November vote to ramp up alternative methods like mail-in voting as the coronavirus pandemic raises concerns about the safety of in-person voting.

That dash to expand polling options could bring a new wave of court fights around the 2020 election, legal experts say. As states move to bolster balloting options — or face challenges to such plans — both sides in the debate are likely to take those decisions to court.

And when Election Day arrives, questions over the handling of mail-in ballots could lead to more court fights. Continue reading.

Trump urges Republicans to ‘fight very hard’ against voting by mail

President previously said efforts to make it easier to vote would mean ‘you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again’

Donald Trump again urged Republicans on Wednesday to oppose efforts to expand voting by mail, falsely suggesting it would lead to widespread voter fraud.

“Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting,” the president tweeted Wednesday morning. “Democrats are clamoring for it. Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesn’t work out well for Republicans.”

Trump’s tweet came the day after Wisconsincontroversially held an in-person election, despite the public health risk of coronavirus. The state’s governor, a Democrat, moved at the last minute to cancel in-person voting and to mail a ballot to every voter. But Republicans, who control the state legislature, refused. There were long lines in Milwaukee on Tuesday as the city had to consolidate its polling places after poll workers dropped out over concerns about their health. Continue reading.

America is in a depression. The challenge now is to make it short-lived.

Washington Post logoEconomists say the U.S. unemployment rate is now 13 percent, the worst since the Great Depression.

More than 17 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits in the past four weeks, a rapid and unprecedented deterioration in the U.S. economy that the nation has decided is necessary to combat the deadly coronavirus by keeping as many people as possible at home.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell said Thursday that the U.S. economy is in an emergency and is deteriorating “with alarming speed.” His remarks came shortly after the central bank unveiled over $2 trillion in new loans to keep the economy afloat, while much of the nation goes into a lockdown.

The nation has not experienced this magnitude of layoffs and economic contraction since the Great Depression, many experts say, and recovery is unlikely to be swift. President Trump and Congress are racing to pass more relief money, but they failed to strike a deal Thursday on the details. Meanwhile, the $2 trillion package Congress approved last month is barely starting to get out as states and federal agencies that have been gutted for years struggle to process millions of aid applications from small businesses and the newly jobless. Continue reading.

Why Republicans Are So Afraid of Vote-by-Mail

New York Times logoPublic health officials recommend absentee ballots to keep people safe. But President Trump and his party, without evidence, portray expanded voting measures as ripe for fraud.

President Trump and his Republican allies are launching an aggressive strategy to fight what many of the administration’s own health officials view as one of the most effective ways to make voting safer amid the deadly spread of Covid-19: the expanded use of mail-in ballots.

The scene Tuesday of Wisconsinites in masks and gloves gathering in long lines to vote, after Republicans sued to defeat extended, mail-in ballot deadlines, did not deter the president and top officials in his party. Republican leaders said they were pushing ahead to fight state-level statutes that could expand absentee balloting in Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona and elsewhere. In New Mexico, Republicans are battling an effort to go to a mail-in-only primary, and they vowed on Wednesday to fight a new move to expand postal balloting in Minnesota.

The new political effort is clearly aimed at helping the president’s re-election prospects, as well as bolstering Republicans running further down the ballot. While his advisers tend to see the issue in more nuanced terms, Mr. Trump obviously views the issue in a stark, partisan way: He has complained that under Democratic plans for national expansion of early voting and voting by mail, “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” Continue reading.