Good news. President Trump doesn't hate the Postal Service. He just wants to ensure that people can't rely on it for voting in November — and a bailout for the pandemic-hobbled post office is on the cutting room floor as a result. Even without the money, USPS said, the tight deadlines of Michigan and Pennsylvania mean those states can't count on their election mail arriving on time.
After adding a seventh straight case this week where it decided not to make democracy more accessible, the Supreme Court finally broke its streak. An effort to keep alive Oregon's partisan gerrymandering reform referendum didn't make the cut Wednesday. But the next day, the court upheld easier absentee voting in Rhode Island, though mostly because the state had already agreed to change its mind.
Ranked-choice voting isn't having a great month. In Burlington, Vt., the mayor shot down an effort to switch city elections to that system. And efforts in neighboring Massachusetts might be in vain, as a poll shows only 36 percent support for a referendum to make the switch. But a survey of Democratic and independent voters last month found that, given an option to rank Joe Biden's short list, Kamala Harris came out on top in the veepstakes. So guess she was the right pick.
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And everything else that happened this week ...
- Facebook is trying to be one-stop shopping for all your voting needs — because they've done such a bang up job helping with elections in the past.
- Illinois Republicans are accusing their governor of promoting voter fraud.
- Maryland is struggling to find poll workers, so will likely cut voting locations.
- Hawaii's first all-mail primary saw a big spike in turnout.
- There's a new flow of money coming in for Black candidates across the country.
— Tristiaña Hinton