News
Bogus fraud claims cloud real obstacles to expanded mail voting
On the surface, the idea of conducting elections mainly by mail appears deceptively simple. It evokes images of a serious-minded citizen at the kitchen table, poring over information about candidates before thoughtfully marking a ballot, slipping it in an envelope and dropping it in the corner mailbox.
But the history of recent elections show that, even though such absentee ballots have accounted for only a quarter or so of the total vote, the system has faced serious obstacles. Suddenly doubling or even tripling the mail-in volume, which looks very plausible this November because of the coronavirus, will only magnify those challenges.
Compounding the problems is how the issue has become yet another partisan fight — with Democrats all in favor and President Trump pushing Republicans to oppose efforts to make voting by mail more available and reliable. The president's vastly overblown claims about a looming explosion of voter fraud, in particular, are overshadowing genuine worries about the abilities of election officials and the Postal Service to handle the coming surge of ballot envelopes.
Covid no excuse but absentee ballots on an honor system, top Texas court says
Lack of immunity to the coronavirus does not qualify Texans to vote by mail, the state Supreme Court has ruled, while also declaring that voters should be given broad leeway to cite their excuse of choice when applying for an absentee ballot.
That decidedly split decision on Wednesday likely assures continued confusion and combat over voting rights this year in the second-most populous state — one of the few states where the government is actively fighting calls to ease access to the polls because of the pandemic.
Partisan maps hurt children, liberal group says in pushing for a campaign issue
Legislative lines drawn by politicians focused on preserving their power get criticized mainly for skewing election outcomes and disenfranchising voters. But they are also having a lasting impact on the education and health care of the next generation.
That's the conclusion of a report released Thursday by a prominent progressive think tank, the Center for American Progress, which maintains that partisan gerrymandering a decade ago by Republicans in four battleground states has limited the availability of child care, education and other family support programs.
The study — which echoes similar CAP reports in recent months arguing that more gun control measures and Medicaid expansions would have been enacted in recent years but for aggressive GOP mapmaking — is part of the wave of efforts to make partisan gerrymandering an election issue this year.
Proponents confident they'll get ranked-choice voting on the Mass. ballot
Voter Choice for Massachusetts 2020 announced Wednesday that it has smashed the signature requirement to get ranked-choice voting on the November ballot. Campaign workers say they are on pace to collect the most signatures for a ballot initiative in Massachusetts history.
In an email to supporters, the campaign said it has collected 17,084 raw signatures, and is averaging over 800 new signatures per day. It needs 13,347 verified signatures by June 17 to go before state voters in the general election.
If approved, Massachusetts in 2022 would become the second state, after nearby Maine, to adopt the system for electing all state executive officials, legislators and members of Congress.
The Medill Fact Check
The Fulcrum this week launched a partnership with Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism to co-publish content from the school's new Covid-19 Analyzer. We will collect voting- and election-related analysis in our new Fact Check hub and include the analysis in relevant articles. Have a suggestion for a claim that needs to be reviewed for accuracy? Send us an email.
Debate
Mail-in balloting surged last month. Don't let that ease your worries.
"Even though absentee voting proved popular during the crisis, most states have a lot of work ahead if they want to be ready for a mail-centric election for president in November," writes Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Community
Vote now in the 'Best of the Rest' regional championship
This is your last chance to vote in in the "Best of the Rest" division of our Democracy Madness tournament. The regional final features our top two seeds, paper ballots vs. federal funding for elections. The winner joins the Final Four, which kicks off next week. Vote now.