Sara Swann is a staff writer covering campaign finance and other reform issues. She previously reported on local and state government for The Daily Times on Maryland's Eastern Shore. She has also done money in politics reporting for the Center for Responsive Politics. Sara is an alumna of Syracuse University.
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Americans much more unified because of the virus, poll finds
Times of crisis often bring people together. And American solidarity has grown in the face of the coronavirus outbreak, a new poll shows.
A vast majority of Americans feel the country has become more unified by its most serious public health emergency in a century, according to a survey released Friday by the nonprofit More in Common, which is focused on combating polarization. But most are also scared about their health and an impending economic depression.
Given how fractured and tribal the country's politics have become in recent decades, the survey offers the slimmest of silver linings: The electorate is capable of finding common ground — it just may take them first confronting a life-altering pandemic.
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Democracy reform’s A-listers join the call for voting at a social distance
Voting absentee has officially become the hottest cause for the democracy reform movement during the coronavirus pandemic: The celebrities have weighed in.
The biggest pop culture icon to put her celebrity behind fixing the system, Jennifer Lawrence, started doing so again Wednesday: She launched a social media campaign to promote the virtues of voting-by-mail by sharing a video of herself in her home. At least 10 other celebrities have since joined in the conversation online.
Ohio's primary was originally scheduled for March 17, but Gov. Mike DeWine postponed the election due to the coronavirus crisis.
Voting rights advocates say Ohio’s new primary plan is unconstitutional
Voting rights advocacy groups have sued to stop Ohio from conducting its primaries in four weeks with almost no in-person voting.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court Monday, is the latest challenging efforts to keep electoral democracy going during the coronavirus pandemic. But it appears to be the first alleging the backup plan favored most by democracy reformers — switching to vote-at-home — is inappropriate if implemented too quickly.
The groups allege that the state's plan violates federal law and both the First and Fourteenth amendments by not providing more than a month to prepare for, and inform voters about, a primary in which almost every ballot will be delivered by mail.