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Project 2025: Voters oppose the far-right playbook

Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention

The Democrats didn't have a meaningful primary, and no one cared

Wipes and sanitizer are good for election security, feds say

Clean election

Poll worker Edgar Moore was fully stocked with cleaning supplies in Miami for Tuesday's primary.

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Bill Theobald
By Bill TheobaldMar 18, 2020
Bill Theobald

Bill Theobald is senior writer at The Fulcrum, where he focuses on everything to do with voting. This December marks his 40th anniversary in the business, and he still believes -- now more than ever -- that the glow from great journalism can truly light the world.

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States may buy hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and masks with their federal grant money for bolstering election security.

That permission was granted Tuesday by the Election Assistance Commission, the latest example of how the novel coronavirus is reshaping the exercise of democracy this year.

Weeks before the global pandemic arrived in the United States, President Trump signed legislation in December providing $425 million to the states for security measures to protect election systems from the sort of hacking attempts by foreign operatives that occurred during the 2016 election. That was on top of the $380 million in grants approved in March 2018.

Election officials across the country are now scrambling to make sure Covid-19 does not totally disrupt the nation's voting — especially the wave of primaries this spring and summer for congressional seats and state legislatures and judgeships, even after the Democratic nominating contest is decided.

The EAC said its new guidance came in response to questions from state election officials about using grant money to pay for supplies to keep voting locations clean, assure equipment stays sanitary and minimize the health risks to both the election judges and the electorate.

The agency said it "considers these allowable costs purchased to protect the health and safety of poll workers, staff and voters during federal elections," so long as the expenses for cleaning supplies are reasonable and the material is only used to improve hygiene in federal elections.

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Among the concerns: Numerous complaints have been filed with consumer agencies across the country alleging price gouging by vendors selling disinfectants and other cleaning supplies.

Significant anxieties sprang up at polling places across Arizona, Illinois and Florida during Tuesday's presidential primary voting, with complaints that poll workers had no wipes or other cleaning supplies or were not properly using what they had.

Ohio's contest was postponed at the last minute because of health worries, and primaries have now also been postponed in four other states; Maryland, Kentucky, Georgia and Louisiana.

The EAC is also acting as an online information clearinghouse for state and local election officials on how they should respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

The most recent round of grant money has ranged from $38.7 million for California down to $600,000 each for Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming

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Make safe states matter

Richie is co-founder and senior advisor of FairVote.

It’s time for “safe state” voters to be more than nervous spectators and symbolic participants in presidential elections.

The latest poll averages confirm that the 2024 presidential election will again hinge on seven swing states. Just as in 2020, expect more than 95 percent of major party candidate campaign spending and events to focus on these states. Volunteers will travel there, rather than engage with their neighbors in states that will easily go to Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. The decisions of a few thousand swing state voters will dwarf the importance of those of tens of millions of safe-state Americans.

But our swing-state myopia creates an opportunity. Deprived of the responsibility to influence which candidate will win, safe state voters can embrace the freedom to vote exactly the way they want, including for third-party and independent candidates.

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The National EduDemocracy Landscape Map provides a comprehensive overview of where states are approaching democracy reforms within education.

The democracy movement ignores education races at its peril

Dr. Mascareñaz is a leader in the Cornerstone Project, a co-founder of The Open System Institute and chair of the Colorado Community College System State Board.

One of my clearest, earliest memories of talking about politics with my grandfather, who helped the IRS build its earliest computer systems in the 1960s, was asking him how he was voting. He said, “Everyone wants to make it about up here,” he said as gestured high above his head before pointing to the ground. “But the truth is that it’s all down here.” This was Thomas Mascareñaz’s version of “all politics is local” and, to me, essential guidance for a life of community building.

As a leader in The Cornerstone Project and a co-founder of The Open System Institute I've spent lots of time thinking and working at the intersections of education and civic engagement. I've seen firsthand how the democratic process unfolds at all levels — national, statewide, municipal and, crucially, in our schools. It is from this vantage point that I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that the democracy reform movement will not succeed unless it acts decisively in the field of education.

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A framework for democracy philanthropy

Stid is the executive director of Lyceum Labs, a fiscally sponsored project of the Defending Democracy Together Institute. The following is reposted with permission from his blog, The Art of Association.

It is challenging for philanthropic funders to get started and stay focused when it comes to strengthening democracy. The vagaries of our political system — really a complex system of systems cast on a continental scale — make it hard to know where to even begin. There are dozens of solutions that could be worthy of support. Alas, none are backed by dispositive evidence indicating that they are the single-best way forward. Then, every second and fourth year, elections reset the stage of democracy and reshuffle the cast of characters, often in unsettling ways.

Democracy's proximity to politics further complicates the philanthropic picture. The tax code bars foundations from backing or opposing candidates, parties and ballot measures. Many foundations take a belt-and-suspenders approach to this proscription on electioneering by avoiding anything that smacks of politics (as democracy-related causes frequently do). Other foundations, in contrast, push right up to the edge, seeking to exploit all the legal ways they can underwrite voter registration, education and participation, ostensibly on a nonpartisan basis, to further their political goals.

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Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who oversees elections, is running for governor this year.

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We can break the partisan cycle by unrigging the system

Sturner, the author of “Fairness Matters,” is the managing partner of Entourage Effect Capital.

This is the sixth entry in the “Fairness Matters” series, examining structural problems with the current political systems, critical policies issues that are going unaddressed and the state of the 2024 election.

We face complex issues, from immigration to the national debt, from Social Security to education, from gun violence to climate change and the culture war, from foreign policy to restoring a vibrant middle class by ensuring economic outcomes are more balanced and equitable.

Yet, neither party seems to be doing much about any of the political problems and policy challenges plaguing our nation. Instead of working on real solutions, our politicians spend their time and our national resources distracting and dividing us by using every tool at their disposal to retain power. Why is that? As Andrew Yang points out in a recent TED Talk (quoting a senator), “A problem is now worth more to us unaddressed than addressed.” It’s galling until you remember that the Democratic and Republican parties are private, gain-seeking organizations that exist to seek and retain power. As such, we should be wary of political parties because our interests and theirs are not aligned.

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Independents will decide the election. What do we know about them?

Fisher is senior director of policy and partnerships for Unite America. Macomber is research manager for Unite America .

Whichever party wins independent voters will win the presidency and other key races this fall. A poll we at Unite America commissioned earlier this year provides clues for how Democrats and Republicans can appeal to these swing voters — including embracing their right to participate in all primary elections. Nearly 90 percent of independent voters from closed primary states support opening primaries, and nearly 60 percent said they would be more likely to vote for a party that pledged to support their right to vote in primaries.

A new bipartisan bill in Congress gives the parties a golden opportunity to do just that. The Let America Vote Act would immediately end closed primaries for congressional and presidential elections, while also providing financial incentives to states that enfranchise independents in state and local primaries. Currently, 15 states have closed congressional primaries, and 22 states have closed presidential primaries.

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