Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

No matter pandemic or presidential wish, we must vote in November

Construction for the 2021 inauguration at the U.S. Capitol

Construction for the 2021 inauguration has already begun at the U.S. Capitol. The election must take place as scheduled, writes Reed Galen.

David Hawkings/The Fulcrum

Galen is an independent political consultant and advisor to The Lincoln Project, an organization of conservatives working for President Trump's defeat. He has been active in the electoral reform movement since 2016.

The coronavirus pandemic has affected every part of our lives. We've seen shelter-in-place orders, schools dismissed, and restaurants and shops shuttered. Every day we see new examples of Americans doing their part in the face of a crisis no one could have predicted and too many of our institutions did too little to prepare for.

Our elections are a prime example. In just the past few weeks we've seen primary and special elections postponed in the interest of social distancing and public health. Maryland, Kentucky, Georgia and Louisiana have pushed voting until later in the spring or summer. While this may provide a small hiccup for the Democratic presidential campaign, these decisions were prudent.


Ohio, which was slated to vote Tuesday, called a halt to the primary just hours ahead of time. On its face, Gov. Mike DeWine's request for a state judge to intervene and halt polling makes sense given the universal admonition not to gather in large groups.

However, when the court refused, DeWine's public health director canceled the election unilaterally, citing the coronavirus. Given that neither the governor nor the General Assembly had statutory authority to do so, DeWine used a legal end-around to achieve an otherwise reasonable goal.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

This willingness and ability to use such extraordinary authority is concerning for several reasons.

First, when left with no other option, DeWine found the fastest and most efficient means necessary to take an action for which he didn't otherwise have authority. Indeed, incredible times sometimes call for incredible measures, but the ability of an executive to take unilateral action — especially when it concerns voting — is an uncommon act in America, to say the least.

This leads to the next issue: Other governors and state elections officials view DeWine's action — and the lack of reaction from the Legislature, the media or the people — as a precedent for taking similar action should they deem it necessary and appropriate. Given this hyper-polarized moment, we should insist that leaders of both parties commit publicly to not taking actions that will adversely affect their political opponents.

Lastly, and perhaps most concerning, is that President Trump, given his ignorance and disdain for both law and tradition, will attempt to utilize a similar "public health emergency" declaration to cancel elections in November. This must not be allowed to happen.

Although this week Trump said he didn't believe it was necessary to postpone other primary elections, we should not take that, or anything he says, as a blanket statement. Given the president's predilection for saying whatever comes to mind or is the most expedient, it is not beyond the realm of possibility to see him leaning into a "cancel the election" stance and pressuring Republican governors and secretaries of state to go along with his wishes.

To prevent such an outcome, elections officials, both in the statehouses and the counties, need to immediately begin preparing for more flexible means of allowing voters to participate this fall. The good news is that most of the infrastructure already exists to make this a reality.

All states provide for at least some voting using an absentee, mail-in ballot. They are split about evenly between those that require some sort of reason (illness, military service, planned travel or advanced age) and those that provide the option to any registered voter who asks. Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah and Hawaii are the standouts — because in those five states ballots and return envelopes will be proactively sent to every voter for use in the general election.

Given most states' abilities and the traditions of issuing absentee ballots, elections officials should immediately begin the process of determining how best to ensure every voter can participate — either in person or at home in November. Most state ballots are not finalized until late August or early September; this should be sufficient time for county officials to organize printing and delivery.

While they are preparing to allow people to vote from their homes, states must also work with civic groups such as the League of Women Voters and other electoral reform groups to accomplish several key objectives.

Initially, states will need to implement a public service campaign to inform the electorate that the state will be moving to mail-in or all-absentee balloting. This must include resources, both mail and digital, that ensure voters clearly understand how to vote their ballot at home.

Given that many poll workers and election judges are older Americans, states must begin a recruitment drive for new poll workers and election judges. Younger Americans should take up the mantle of protecting the integrity of our elections from their parents and grandparents.

Lastly, there must be a concerted and coordinated campaign by us, the American people, to demand these changes and reforms be put in place as soon as possible. With the help of many national, state and local reform groups, we can ensure that come Nov. 3, every American voter's voice is heard.

Read More

Electoral College map

It's possible Donald Trump and Kamala Harris could each get 269 electoral votes this year.

Electoral College rules are a problem. A worst-case tie may be ahead.

Johnson is the executive director of the Election Reformers Network, a national nonpartisan organization advancing common-sense reforms to protect elections from polarization. Keyssar is a Matthew W. Stirling Jr. professor of history and social policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. His work focuses on voting rights, electoral and political institutions, and the evolution of democracies.

It’s the worst-case presidential election scenario — a 269–269 tie in the Electoral College. In our hyper-competitive political era, such a scenario, though still unlikely, is becoming increasingly plausible, and we need to grapple with its implications.

Recent swing-state polling suggests a slight advantage for Kamala Harris in the Rust Belt, while Donald Trump leads in the Sun Belt. If the final results mirror these trends, Harris wins with 270 electoral votes. But should Trump take the single elector from Nebraska’s 2nd congressional district — won by Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2016 — then both candidates would be deadlocked at 269.

Keep ReadingShow less
People holiding "Yes on 1" signs

People urge support for Question 1 in Maine.

Kyle Bailey

The Fahey Q&A: Kyle Bailey discusses Maine’s Question 1

Since organizing the Voters Not Politicians2018 ballot initiative that put citizens in charge ofdrawing Michigan's legislative maps, Fahey has been the founding executive director of The PeoplePeople, which is forming statewide networks to promote government accountability. Sheregularly interviews colleagues in the world of democracy reform for The Fulcrum.

Kyle Bailey is a former Maine state representative who managed the landmark ballot measure campaigns to win and protect ranked choice voting. He serves as campaign manager for Citizens to End SuperPACs and the Yes On 1 campaign to pass Question 1, a statewide ballot initiative that would place a limit of $5,000 on contributions to political action committees.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ballot envelopes moving through a sorting machine

Mailed ballots are sorted by a machine at the Denver Elections Division.

Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post

GOP targets fine print of voting by mail in battleground state suits

Rosenfeld is the editor and chief correspondent of Voting Booth, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

In 2020’s presidential election, 17 million more Americans voted than in 2016’s election. That record-setting turnout was historic and even more remarkable because it came in the midst of a deadly pandemic. A key reason for the increase was most states simplified and expanded voting with mailed-out ballots — which 43 percent of voters used.

Some battleground states saw dramatic expansions. Michigan went from 26 percent of its electorate voting with mailed-out ballots in 2016 to 59 percent in 2020. Pennsylvania went from 4 percent to 40 percent. The following spring, academics found that mailing ballots to voters had lifted 2020’s voter turnout across the political spectrum and had benefited Republican candidates — especially in states that previously had limited the option.

Keep ReadingShow less
Members of Congress in the House of Representatives

Every four years, Congress gathers to count electoral votes.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

No country still uses an electoral college − except the U.S.

Holzer is an associate professor of political science at Westminster College.

The United States is the only democracy in the world where a presidential candidate can get the most popular votes and still lose the election. Thanks to the Electoral College, that has happened five times in the country’s history. The most recent examples are from 2000, when Al Gore won the popular vote but George W. Bush won the Electoral College after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, and 2016, when Hillary Clinton got more votes nationwide than Donald Trump but lost in the Electoral College.

The Founding Fathers did not invent the idea of an electoral college. Rather, they borrowed the concept from Europe, where it had been used to pick emperors for hundreds of years.

Keep ReadingShow less