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Sara Swann
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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The task force encourages news outlets to be transparent about their plans for election 2020 coverage.
Election experts press news media for transparency on calling races
Sep 17 2020
With half or more of all ballots coming by mail this fall, it will take days if not weeks for the counting to be completed — likely delaying not only the climax of a close presidential race but also the final word about control of the Senate and dozens of other narrow contests.
Because at least this aspect of an unprecedented election has become easy to predict, the National Task Force on Election Crises, a recently formed group of election experts and academics, is urging the news media to be more transparent about its reporting process in order to give the public more confidence in the integrity of the results.
The task force on Wednesday asked the Associated Press, CNN, Fox News and the three broadcast networks for their detailed plans for reporting returns and calling races. Many other news organizations, including local TV stations and major newspapers, rely on these outlets (the AP most of all) before projecting a winner.
<p>For previous presidential contests, the National Election Pool (just CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC this year) has relied on in-person and over-the-phone exit polling to model likely outcomes on a precinct-by-precinct and state-by-state basis — information they use to augment the returns as they come in. The AP and Fox News say this year they will use a different voter survey, conducted online and over the phone.</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>But these models will be complicated significantly by the certain surge in mail-in voting. Since most states are expecting unprecedented shares of votes cast remotely, the historical data on mailed ballots won't be much use when coming up with projections. And many states only turn to counting absentee ballots once the tabulating of in-person returns is finished.</p>
<p>To reassure the public about the reliability of results, the <a href="https://www.electiontaskforce.org/members" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">task force</a> recommends news organizations publicly share the following at least one month ahead of Election Day:</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>How exit polling and voter surveys will account for the increase in absentee voting.</li><li>How discrepancies between results in hand the night of Nov. 3 and final results will be contextualized given ballot counting will take days or weeks, especially in battleground states.</li><li>Policies and procedures for protecting the people in the news division assigned to call races — so-called decision desks — from internal and external pressures to project a winner before results are clear.</li><li>Plans for covering any politician who declares victory before an accurate, evidence-backed projection has been made.</li></ul>
<p>President Trump has signaled he plans to rely on the election night results to decide if he should claim re-election. Plenty of evidence says that could prove irresponsibly premature — especially in light of polling showing his supporters are much likelier to vote in person while Joe Biden's allies say they'll vote by mail. </p>
<p>The logical consequence would be that early returns suggesting a strong Trump showing will start evaporating, for a totally legitimate reason, as the envelopes are tabulated. The emerging nicknames for this are "the red mirage" or "the blue shift," depending on your point of view.</p>
<p>If news outlets take extra steps to increase transparency around their coverage, it will increase the public's confidence in the election process and outcome, the task force wrote.</p>
<p>"The role of the free press — your role — has never been more important," the letter concludes. "We urge you to take these additional steps towards transparency as part of your mission to inform the public and deliver accurate coverage of election results, especially how you account for the millions of expected absentee ballots. The American electorate — and our democracy — is depending on you."</p>
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South Carolina is the 11th state allowing everyone to vote by mail in November because of the pandemic.
Just 5 states requiring a non-Covid reason to vote by mail after S.C. leaves the list
Sep 16 2020
South Carolina is poised to become the latest state to permit all voters to use an absentee ballot this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster's office says he will sign a measure, cleared during a special session of the General Assembly on Tuesday, that will suspend for the November election the state's normally strict excuse requirements for mail-in voting.
That leaves just five states still demanding a reason beyond fear of Covid-19 exposure for voting away from a polling place this fall: Texas, which has developed into the biggest presidential battleground, along with reliably Republican Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.
<p>South Carolina is joining 10 other states in going to a no-excuse system this year only because of the public health emergency. Its usual restrictions have led to about 5 percent of all votes being cast by mail in recent elections — a number that might now soar almost tenfold. </p>
<p>Tuesday's 115-1 vote in the state House followed a unanimous vote last week in the Senate, but that masked partisan divides over other proposed election easements for South Carolina's 3.4 million voters. </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>Citing concerns about potential fraud, the solid GOP majority repelled Democratic efforts to add two amendments to the bill. One would have ended the requirement for a witness signature on mailed ballot envelopes, sometimes tough to obtain at a time of social distancing. The other would have required the installation of ballot drop boxes across the state.</p><p>A federal judge suspended the witness requirement for the state's June primary, so it's possible the courts may weigh in again before November.</p>
<p>The new legislation extends the deadline for seeking an absentee ballot to four days before Election Day, so long as the application is made in person. But completed ballots will only get counted if received by election officials before polls close Nov. 3.</p>
<p>In a boon to local clerks hoping to provide relatively speedy returns, the bill allows them to check the signatures on envelopes and prepare the ballots for tabulating starting Nov. 1 — not on Election Day, as in the past. </p><p>President Trump looks highly likely to secure the state's nine electoral votes, which a Democrat last carried when Jimmy Carter won the White House 44 years ago. But enhanced turnout could boost the Democrats' chances of holding on to a House seat centered on Charleston and propelling their well-funded former state party chairman, Jaime Harrison, who is waging a vigorous if uphill challenge to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.</p>
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Ohio will not provide envelopes with prepaid postage to voters for the 2020 general election.
Ohio won't join states covering postage for absentee voters
Sep 15 2020
Ohio voters will have to provide their own postage if they opt to return their ballots by mail this fall.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose wanted to purchase $3 million worth of stamps with federal Covid-19 relief funding to put on envelopes for the record number of absentee ballots expected this fall. But a budgetary oversight board run by his fellow Republicans rejected that proposal Monday.
Voters in most states have to put their own 55-cent stamp on their mail ballots. But 17 states have permanent policies to provide postage-paid envelopes to absentee voters, and another three have decided to do the same for the November presidential election.
<p>Appealing to the board was LaRose's last attempt to add Ohio to that roster in time for the November election, after the General Assembly didn't approve his request for funding earlier this year.<br></p><p><br></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://thefulcrum.us/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDMxNDU1Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDM5NzI3OX0.5cFF8Y8nfsCxZqLRso2tIfci60N15n7AGaZDCeSKToc/image.png?width=980" id="48de6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e6a0f80bd0f69bcabec515a4ec240cf1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="states that pay for postage on mail-in ballots">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Source: National Conference of State Legislatures<a href="https://templates.flourish.studio/1511/OKCMDUq_cUikna-ouHVxSh_brxe9UodOytL6_rSd8yQwnUwLqEQbKjf1k9PILC6e/?environment=editor&auto=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a></small></p><p><br></p><p>Despite garnering bipartisan support from the state's election administrators, LaRose was unable to convince the Controlling Board, which oversees some state fiscal activities. The four GOP legislators on the panel opposed the proposal while the two Democrats backed it. The other member, the state budget director appointed by the governor, did not vote.</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>The Republicans said such a policy change should be made by the General Assembly, which covered the postage costs of a primary postponed at the last minute in March and switched to almost all vote-by-mail because of the pandemic.</p><p>"Ohio has a sound elections system, but today was another missed opportunity by the Legislature to make a small change, without an impact on our state budget, that would yield a big improvement," LaRose said after the board vote.</p><p>His office has already mailed absentee ballot applications to Ohio's 8 million voters. As of last week, more than 1 million had completed requests and the state expects that number to double. Mail ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 2 and received within 10 days of Election Day in order to be counted. Ohioans also have the option to drop off their absentee ballot at their county elections office before polls close on Election Day.</p><p>No Republican has ever won the White House without Ohio, and Donald Trump carried its 18 electoral votes by a comfortable 6 points last time, but his campaign and Joe Biden's team both now view the state as essentially a tossup.</p>
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