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Trump’s Deepfake Isn’t Just Offensive—It’s a Racist Distraction from Real Governance

Trump’s Deepfake Isn’t Just Offensive—It’s a Racist Distraction from Real Governance

Is Pritzker Right? Is It Time To Invoke the 25th Amendment Against Trump?

Is Pritzker Right? Is It Time To Invoke the 25th Amendment Against Trump?

Donald Trump

Project 2025 in Action: Sounding the Alarm for Democracy

A man standing and tilting a seesaw, with a crowd of people standing on the other side.

This Nation’s First Dictatorship Is Emerging. It Is Time To Call It What It Is.

Pope Leo XIV’s Rebuke of U.S. Immigration Policy Is a Wake-Up Call

Pope Leo XIV’s Rebuke of U.S. Immigration Policy Is a Wake-Up Call

Virus a valid excuse to vote absentee in Missouri, lawsuit argues

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson does not think the coronavirus pandemic is a valid reason for people to vote absentee. Advocates have filed a lawsuit arguing that it is.

John Moscovitch/Getty Images
Bill Theobald
By Bill TheobaldApr 20, 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.

See More Writings by author

The coronavirus pandemic is a valid reason for Missourians to vote using mail-in absentee ballots, according to a lawsuit filed by the NAACP and the League of Women voters.

The suit, filed Friday, is the latest instance of voting rights advocates asking elected officials or courts for waivers or favorable interpretations of state laws limiting the circumstances for voting absentee. Missouri is one of 16 states that require an explicit "excuse" for obtaining a mail-in ballot.

The lawsuit argues that a provision of Missouri law, permitting absentee voting by those incapacitated or confined because of illness or disability, could easily be interpreted to include people who fear leaving their homes during the pubic health emergency. Five states, the lawsuit notes, have already interpreted similar statutes that way.

But officials in different parts of Missouri are divided on the question, and Republican Gov. Mike Parson opposes the idea.

Parson, who is favored in a competitive race for re-election, has already postponed all municipal elections from April to June 2. Primaries still set for Aug. 4 will decide nominees for governor and other statewide offices, eight U.S. House seats and most seats in the General Assembly

The suit says the absentee voting regulations violate the Missouri Constitution. It also asks a state court judge to eliminate the usual requirement for many absentee ballots to be notarized.

In addition to the illness and disability exception, the state permits absentee voting for those who will be away from home, have a religious conflict, are poll workers or are in jail on Election Day.

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U.S. President Barack Obama speaking on the phone in the Oval Office.

U.S. President Barack Obama talks President Barack Obama talks with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan during a phone call from the Oval Office on November 2, 2009 in Washington, DC.

Getty Images, The White House

‘Obama, You're 15 Years Too Late!’

The mid-decade redistricting fight continues, while the word “hypocrisy” has become increasingly common in the media.

The origin of mid-decade redistricting dates back to the early history of the United States. However, its resurgence and legal acceptance primarily stem from the Texas redistricting effort in 2003, a controversial move by the Republican Party to redraw the state's congressional districts, and the 2006 U.S. Supreme Court decision in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry. This decision, which confirmed that mid-decade redistricting is not prohibited by federal law, was a significant turning point in the acceptance of this practice.

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Hand of a person casting a ballot at a polling station during voting.

Gerrymandering silences communities and distorts elections. Proportional representation offers a proven path to fairer maps and real democracy.

Getty Images, bizoo_n

Gerrymandering Today, Gerrymandering Tomorrow, Gerrymandering Forever

In 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace declared, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." (Watch the video of his speech.) As a politically aware high school senior, I was shocked by the venom and anger in his voice—the open, defiant embrace of systematic disenfranchisement, so different from the quieter racism I knew growing up outside Boston.

Today, watching politicians openly rig elections, I feel that same disbelief—especially seeing Republican leaders embrace that same systematic approach: gerrymandering now, gerrymandering tomorrow, gerrymandering forever.

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An oversized ballot box surrounded by people.

Young people worldwide form new parties to reshape politics—yet America’s two-party system blocks them.

Getty Images, J Studios

No Country for Young Politicians—and How To Fix That

In democracies around the world, young people have started new political parties whenever the establishment has sidelined their views or excluded them from policymaking. These parties have sometimes reinvigorated political competition, compelled established parties to take previously neglected issues seriously, or encouraged incumbent leaders to find better ways to include and reach out to young voters.

In Europe, a trio in their twenties started Volt in 2017 as a pan-European response to Brexit, and the party has managed to win seats in the European Parliament and in some national legislatures. In Germany, young people concerned about climate change created Klimaliste, a party committed to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as per the Paris Agreement. Although the party hasn’t won seats at the federal level, they have managed to win some municipal elections. In Chile, leaders of the 2011 student protests, who then won seats as independent candidates, created political parties like Revolución Democrática and Convergencia Social to institutionalize their movements. In 2022, one of these former student leaders, Gabriel Boric, became the president of Chile at 36 years old.

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How To Fix Gerrymandering: A Fair-Share Rule for Congressional Redistricting

Demonstrators gather outside of The United States Supreme Court during an oral arguments in Gill v. Whitford to call for an end to partisan gerrymandering on October 3, 2017 in Washington, DC

Getty Images, Olivier Douliery

How To Fix Gerrymandering: A Fair-Share Rule for Congressional Redistricting

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground. ~ Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Col. Edward Carrington, Paris, 27 May 1788

The Problem We Face

The U.S. House of Representatives was designed as the chamber of Congress most directly tethered to the people. Article I of the Constitution mandates that seats be apportioned among the states according to population and that members face election every two years—design features meant to keep representatives responsive to shifting public sentiment. Unlike the Senate, which prioritizes state sovereignty and representation, the House translates raw population counts into political voice: each House district is to contain roughly the same number of residents, ensuring that every citizen’s vote carries comparable weight. In principle, then, the House serves as the nation’s demographic mirror, channeling the diverse preferences of the electorate into lawmaking and acting as a safeguard against unresponsive or oligarchic governance.

Nationally, the mismatch between the overall popular vote and the partisan split in House seats is small, with less than a 1% tilt. But state-level results tell a different story. Take Connecticut: Democrats hold all five seats despite Republicans winning over 40% of the statewide vote. In Oklahoma, the inverse occurs—Republicans control every seat even though Democrats consistently earn around 40% of the vote.

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