News. Debate. Community. Levers for a better democracy.
Check out our Election Dissection blog:
Our panel of experts will be analyzing voting controversies until the 2020 winners are clear.
MOST READ
Get some leverage.
Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter.
Hill Street Studios/Getty Images
The discovery of hundreds of ballots stuffed in a mailbox has prompted a do-over election.
New local election ordered in N.J. after evidence of fraud
Aug 20 2020
A city council election in New Jersey's third biggest city was so tainted that it requires a do-over, a state judge has decided.
More than 3,000 ballots, or nearly 20 percent of all votes cast in Paterson's entirely vote-by-mail municipal election in May, were thrown out after evidence of tampering. Judge Ernest Caposela said Wednesday that means the contest "was not the fair, free and full expression of the intent of the voters" and must to be held anew in November
President Trump, who has repeatedly claimed without evidence that mail-in elections guarantee election rigging, has seized on the Paterson case — by far the most credible example of cheating this year — to sow further distrust in the way more people than ever will vote this year because of the pandemic. But election officials say that, on the contrary, the case actually shows how rare fraud is and how effectively the system catches the few perpetrators.
<p>Following the state's first exclusively mail-in election in May, postal workers informed law enforcement officials that hundreds of ballots were stuffed inside a Paterson mailbox, prompting an investigation by Democratic state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>"We will not allow a small number of criminals to undermine the public's confidence in our democratic process," said Grewal, who charged four men, including two candidates, with fraud.</p><p>New Jersey officials also say Trump has mischaracterized what happened. The vast majority of the votes were rejected because they were improperly filled out, not because they were illegally cast. </p><p>Local news outlets reported problems with the vote as early as primary day, which election experts said speaks to the capability of the system to spot fraud.</p><p>"Even on this small scale, what you see is that having a conspiracy like this to try to affect the outcome of an election is very difficult to do without detection," Rick Hasen, an election law professor at the University of California, Irvine, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/01/885074932/n-j-election-fraud-case-draws-a-trump-tweet-but-suggests-safeguards-are-working" target="_blank">told NPR</a>. </p><p>The ruling comes a week after Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/voting/vote-by-mail-2647006162" target="_self">announced </a>that all 6.3 million registered voters would be sent a ballot so the November election can be conducted mainly by mail. The Trump campaign on Tuesday sued in federal court to stop the plan, claiming the governor has unconstitutionally altered election procedures that are the purview of the Legislature. The campaign has also <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/trump-absentee-ballot" target="_self">sued Nevada</a>, one of the four other states (plus D.C.) that like New Jersey have decided to switch to vote-by-mail for the first time because of Covid-19. </p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>Murphy quickly <a href="https://twitter.com/GovMurphy/status/1296131059931807745" target="_blank">fired back on Twitter</a>, arguing that the Trump campaign was trying "to delegitimize our elections and cast doubt on our democratic process."</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Trump team sues to stop New Jersey's vote-by-mail plan - The Fulcrum ›
- New Jersey election officials threw out nearly 20 percent of mail-in ... ›
- Fact check: Paterson election plagued with election fraud - The ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less
Gary Hershorn/Getty Images
Gov. Phil Murphy says plenty of ballot drop boxes, like this one in Hoboken, will be an alternative to relying on the Postal Service.
Trump team sues to stop New Jersey from joining list of vote-by-mail states
Aug 19 2020
The Trump campaign has sued to stop New Jersey from carrying out its new system for maintaining electoral democracy during the pandemic: sending all registered voters a mail-in ballot but also allowing them to easily vote in person instead.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday night, just four days after Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy announced the plan.
It's the second time the campaign and the Republican Party have gone to federal court to fight a state's plans for switching to a mostly vote-by-mail election this year — which the president claims without evidence will guarantee widespread fraud aimed at rigging the contest against him. They sued Nevada two weeks ago.
<p>The president has sought to draw a distinction in recent weeks between the two main forms of voting from home. He now says the most common system, the voter requesting and returning an absentee ballot, is fine by him — and in fact he did so in this week's Florida primary. But states that proactively send ballots to all voters, he alleges, will mean "millions and millions" of forms never get to a registered voter and instead will be scooped up and cast illegally. This fear has next to no basis in fact.</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>There has been no widespread cheating in modern American elections, and nonpartisan experts say neither party automatically benefits when states expand access to mail-in voting.</p><p>Five states were committed before the coronavirus outbreak to holding all elections mainly by mail. New Jersey and Nevada have been joined in making the switch for this year only by California, Vermont, the District of Columbia and almost all of Montana.</p><p>Trying to reverse the switch in Nevada, which Trump has a shot at carrying, has some viable political rationale because Republicans tend to do better in low-turnout contests. The same goes for Pennsylvania, where <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/voting/absentee-voting-pennsylvania-2646299405" target="_self">the campaign filed its first lawsuit</a> with a different objective — trying to reverse easements to the rules for using mail-in ballots this year.</p><p>But, beyond the fact that Trump was at his New Jersey golf club as the new election plan was announced, it's not clear why his team decided to spend resources suing in one of the nation's bluest states. He got just 41 percent of the vote there last time, the seventh straight loss of the state by the GOP nominee, and in the 2018 midterm the Democrats picked up three House seats and now hold 10 of 12. Three of those congressional seats are being hard-fought this fall, but there are no state contests on the ballot.</p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>The main legal rationale for the suit is that Murphy made a "brazen power grab" and unconstitutionally seized powers belonging only to the Legislature when he changed election procedures by executive order. </p><p>Friday's order says all 6.3 million registered voters will be sent a ballot and that plenty of secure drop boxes will be available as an alternative to mailing them back. In addition, Murphy said over the weekend, he will also order an extension so that ballots postmarked by Election Day but delayed in the mail will be tabulated.</p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>For those who want to vote in person, at least half the normal number of polling places will be open Nov. 3, but people who show up there will generally have to cast provisional paper ballots — which won't be counted until election officials determine that a duplicate did not also arrive in the mail.</p><p>This hybrid system "will violate eligible citizens' right to vote," the GOP lawsuit alleges. "This massively increased volume of provisional ballots raises grave concerns about increased lines and wait times to vote and the state's ability to properly process each and every provisional ballot."</p><p>The suit points to the recent case of <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/fact-check/paterson-election-fraud" target="_self">voter fraud in a municipal election</a> this spring in the state's third largest city, Paterson. And Justin Clark, Trump's deputy campaign manager, wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal pointing to a 2016 investigation by the Asbury Park Press that found 2,460 voters on the New Jersey rolls had been dead at least five years and 60 had cast votes from the grave. The paper said, however, that clerical failures were to blame and that no fraud was suspected.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- New Jersey election officials threw out nearly 20 percent of mail-in ... ›
- Lawsuit aims to halt any more online voting in New Jersey - The ... ›
- N.J., Ky expand mail voting access, Ind. does not - The Fulcrum ›
- Fact check: Paterson election plagued with election fraud - The ... ›
- New local election ordered in N.J. after evidence of fraud - The Fulcrum ›
- Trump's claim of widespread fraud in mail voting is false - The Fulcrum ›
- Six rulings affect voting by mail across the country - The Fulcrum ›
- GOP is trying to have it both ways regarding drop boxes - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Gov. Phil Murphy decided every New Jersey voters will be sent a mail-in ballot for November.
New Jersey, Kentucky expand mail-in voting; Indiana does not
Aug 17 2020
New Jersey and Kentucky have joined the growing list of places where voting by mail is going to become much more widespread this fall. Indiana, not so much — at least not yet.
As the country continues to adjust to conducting a presidential election during a pandemic, more and more states are taking a range of routes to make it easier to cast a ballot. Only a few have gone the other way.
Solidly blue New Jersey has decided to proactively deliver ballots to all registered votes, a practice President Trump alleges without evidence will lead to widespread fraud. Reliably red Kentucky has made a narrower decision to allow fear of Covid-19 to count as an excuse for requesting an absentee ballot.
Here are the details:
<h3>New Jersey</h3><p>Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy announced Friday that the state will conduct its general election mostly by mail after delivering a ballot to all 6.3 million registered voters.</p><p>New Jersey thereby becomes the 11th place where every voter will receive an absentee ballot in the mail. Five states (Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Utah and Hawaii) planned to do so before the pandemic. Before New Jersey's decision they had already been joined just for this year by California, Vermont, Nevada, the District of Columbia and almost every county in Montana.</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>Murphy cited the success of the state's mostly vote-by-mail primary in July in making the announcement that another wave of ballots will be mailed the first week of October. </p><p>Voters can return them by mail, drop them into a secure box or take them to the polling places that remain open. Schools, which are widely used as voting centers, will be closed for in-person classes on Nov. 3.</p><p>Murphy said the options are being offered because of concerns about the Postal Service. "Making it easier to vote does not favor any one political party but it does favor democracy," he said.</p><p>The state's 14 electoral votes are a near lock for Joe Biden, but contests in three congressional districts are competitive.</p><h3>Kentucky</h3><p>Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams agreed to renew for November the deal they struck for the primary: Anyone concerned about catching Covid-19 may vote absentee.</p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>It's the ninth state to relax for this presidential election the usual requirements to cite a specific reason when applying for an absentee ballot. Some have suspended the excuse rules altogether. Others, like Kentucky, have added worry about viral exposure as an acceptable reason.</p><p>Other options in Kentucky will include early in-person voting starting Oct. 13, more in-person polling places than in the June primary and a voting "super center" in each county where residents from any precinct may vote. Kentuckians will be able to request an absentee ballot online.</p><p>Trump can count on the state's eight electoral votes. The hottest contest is the well-financed but longshot challenge to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's bid for a seventh term</p><h3>Indiana</h3><p>The state is for now one of only seven where an excuse beyond the coronavirus will be required to vote by mail. (The others are Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.)</p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>That's because the state election commission deadlocked Friday: The two Democrats voted to expand voting by mail for essentially any reason but the two Republicans opposed. The commission had voted to allow any resident to request an absentee ballot for the state's June primary election.</p><p>"Just because something was agreed upon in March because of an emergency doesn't mean those same factors automatically make this appropriate this time," said GOP Commissioner Zachary Klutz.</p><p>Proponents of expanding vote-by-mail in Indiana will now look to the federal courts, where several lawsuits are pending.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Fact-checking claims about vote-by-mail turnaround times - The ... ›
- Mail-in voting benefits neither party, is nearly fraud-free - The Fulcrum ›
- Lessons from Oregon, the top-ranked vote-by-mail state - The Fulcrum ›
- Montana will move toward a vote-by-mail November election - The ... ›
- Trump team sues to stop New Jersey's vote-by-mail plan - The Fulcrum ›
- Pro sports arenas could become giant polling places - The Fulcrum ›
- Voting easements made in Va. & N.Y., but stopped in Ind. - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less
KenKPhoto/Getty Images
Democrats would be assured of dominating Trenton for another term if the referendum is OKd.
New Jersey will vote on keeping gerrymandered map for two extra years
Jul 31 2020
Voters will decide in November whether the next redrawing of New Jersey's legislative districts may be postponed for two years.
It will be one of the more unusual referendums addressing partisan gerrymandering — and yet another wrinkle in the running of democracy wrought by the coronavirus.
Democrats who control the Legislature say keeping current districts in place until 2023 is the fairest thing to do if population reports from the Census Bureau are delayed, which looks likely because of the complications of counting heads in a pandemic. That's a subterfuge for holding on to their seats for an extra term, Republicans complain, while good-government groups say the postponement would deny growing minority populations more influence in Trenton.
<p>Legislators concluded the only way to get what they want was to ask the people to amend the state Constitution. The measure to put the language on the Nov. 3 ballot was cleared Thursday.</p><p>The timetable is unusually tight in New Jersey, because it's one of just two states that have legislative elections in 2021. (The other is Virginia, which will vote this fall on whether to assign redistricting to an independent panel, with its deadline for producing new maps not yet certain.)</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>If voters approve the measure, next year New Jersey will elect 120 legislators in the districts used since 2011 — assuming the census numbers are delivered after the middle of February. (Typically, the detailed data set is delivered by early March.) Lawmakers say this will provide the time needed to come up with fresh maps. </p><p>But that deadline is way too early, says the <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/princeton-gerrymandering-project" target="_self">Princeton Gerrymandering Project</a>, one of the groups opposed to the measure.</p><p>It would be possible to redraw the districts later and then delay the primary, which is usually in June, although maps drawn in the summer wouldn't leave much time to campaign in new territory for primaries in the early fall. Only a decade ago, when census results were late, the state responded by delaying the primary three weeks.</p><p>"This measure is unnecessary and it's extreme," said Republican state Sen. Kip Bateman. "It's not about fairness or accuracy. It's about protecting incumbents and the majority party's two decades of control in the Legislature."</p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>The Princeton group maintains that pushing back an election is better than delaying redistricting because the latter would mean diluted voting power for the state's Latino and Asian-American communities, which have grown a combined 20 percent — more than 400,000 people — over the last decade, enough to become players in electing more state senators and House members.</p><p>The state's 12 congressional districts are redrawn using a separate process that won't be affected by this measure, and don't need to be remade as quickly in any case.</p><p>New Jersey is one of eight states that use independent redistricting commissions to draw new maps each decade for both Congress and the state legislature. Six other states do so for just the legislature.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Experts identify the worst examples of gerrymandering - The Fulcrum ›
- Mapmaking commission effort comes up way short in Nevada - The ... ›
- Mapmakers will have to scramble if Trump gets census delay - The ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less
