National: Voting by mail: Why states will have a hard time setting it up | Amber Phillips /The Washington Post
The safest way to hold an election during the coronavirus pandemic is to not. But canceling elections, especially in a presidential year, isn’t an option. So 15 states have moved their primaries back to the summer, and nearly every state is considering how it can have more people vote in November by mail instead of in person. That means they could either expand absentee balloting while keeping fewer polling places open, or they could mail ballots to all voters. But easier said than done. Only five states have the ability to hold a statewide by-mail election, and it took them years to set it up and work out the kinks. The states considering it now have months, if that, which means they need to decide in the next few weeks whether to push for all-mail elections for November and hope it can be done. Here are the biggest hurdles to having more people vote by mail in November. The equipment that states have to conduct in-person elections won’t work for mail-in elections. The scanners many states have to count ballots in each polling places can’t handle counting ballots en masse from the whole county or state. The kind of scanner that can do that heavy work costs $500,000 to $1 million, said Wendy Underhill, an elections expert with the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures.National: The new coronavirus funding battle over the November election | Marianne Levine and Burgess Everett/Politico
Consensus is growing that Democrats and Republicans will soon hash out a new coronavirus emergency package in the coming weeks. But a major obstacle is emerging: the November election. Democrats are making a push to expand funding for vote-by-mail efforts in a fourth emergency rescue package, citing the need to help states prepare to hold elections during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a public health issue, Democrats argue: That elections carried out as usual could spread the virus this fall. But new vote-by-mail funding is facing stern resistance from Senate Republicans and the Trump administration, who argue against imposing federal guidelines on states. The issue may be a sticking point to any relief package as the U.S. faces mass unemployment and a plummeting economy. “We are getting more and more bipartisan support from secretaries of states across the country,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in an interview, who is leading a bill with Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) to expand early voting as well as vote-by-mail. “In a worst case scenario communities may be facing the choice of either voting by mail or not voting at all,” added Wyden. “We’re already going in this direction and now we’re in the middle of a pandemic and I think this is a very different time.”National: Trump, GOP challenge efforts to make voting easier amid coronavirus pandemic | Elise Viebeck, Amy Gardner and Michael Scherer/The Washington Post
President Trump and a growing number of Republican leaders are aggressively challenging efforts to make voting easier as the coronavirus pandemic disrupts elections, accusing Democrats of opening the door to fraud — and, in some cases, admitting fears that expanded voting access could politically devastate the GOP. Around the country, election officials trying to ensure ballot access and protect public health in upcoming contests face an increasingly coordinated backlash from the right. Much of the onslaught of litigation has been funded by the Republican National Committee, which has sought to block emergency measures related to covid-19, such as proactively mailing ballots to voters sheltering at home. “I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting,” Trump, who voted absentee in New York in 2018, said at a news conference Friday, offering no examples. “I think people should vote [in person] with voter ID. I think voter ID is very important, and the reason they don’t want voter ID is because they intend to cheat.” Democrats and their allies in the civil rights community are also seizing the moment, arguing that the current crisis has created an urgent need for many of the voting policies they have pushed for years, including mass expansion of mail balloting and relaxation of voter ID, signature and witness requirements.National: Trump campaign declares war on Democrats over voting rules for November | Alex Isenstadt/Pölitico
“This is about making sure that we're able to conduct our democracy while we're dealing with a pandemic. We can do both,” Biden said. “There's a lot of ways to do it, but we should be talking about it now.” Trump advisers say they are open to certain changes, such as automatically sending absentee ballot applications to voters over age 65. But they’re opposed to other moves Democrats are pushing, such as sending every voter a ballot regardless of whether they ask for one, which Republicans argue would open the door to fraud. Trump has long been fixated on voter fraud. He has repeatedly claimed without evidence that he lost New Hampshire in 2016 because out-of-staters cast ballots, and after the election the president set up a since-disbanded voter fraud commission. Following the disastrous 2018 midterms, Trump said that after voting, some people “go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again.” During an appearance on Fox News this week, Trump pushed back against an effort by House Democrats to secure billions of dollars for election assistance in the coronavirus relief package. The bill Trump ultimately signed included $400 million, a fraction of what Democrats had been seeking.National: Some cash-strapped states turn to election security funds to fight COVID-19 | Matthew Vann/ABC
With the country in crisis mode responding to the coronavirus, several states are now turning to their election security funds from the massive stimulus package signed by President Trump amid plans to cover unanticipated costs stemming from the virus. ABC News has confirmed that several states— including the political battleground states of Pennsylvania and Ohio as well as Rhode Island, Connecticut, Tennessee, and Alabama—are either now using or intend to use election security funds, including coronavirus stimulus money designated to protect the 2020 elections from malicious cyber activity, to fight their own statewide battles against COVID-19. “We are assessing all election security and administration needs and will allocate accordingly,” said Wanda Murren, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Secretary of State. The National Association of Secretaries of State issued guidance to states on how best to prepare for the elections amid concerns about the virus, but says decisions about how to spend election security money in a time of national crisis is up to each state.National: New election security funds won’t come easy for hard-hit states | Paul M. Krawzak/Roll Call
Cash-strapped states, which Congress just pumped $150 billion into, will nonetheless have to pony up in order to access new election security grants in the massive new coronavirus aid package signed by President Donald Trump last week. The $2.3 trillion aid bill contains $400 million to "prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally, for the 2020 Federal election cycle." The Election Assistance Commission, an independent, bipartisan commission established in 2002, will administer the grants. But consistent with past practice, and EAC guidelines, the money comes with strings attached: States need to put up matching funds equal to 20 percent of their federal aid. Previous election security grants required a state match, most recently the 20 percent state match required for $425 million provided in regular fiscal 2020 appropriations last December. But some election security experts were taken aback that the matching funds requirement wasn't waived in the latest round of aid, and House Democrats are already planning to include a fix in the "phase four" COVID-19 bill they are prepping.National: Democrats press Trump, GOP for funding for mail-in ballots | Maggie Miller/The Hill
Democrats and voting rights groups on Thursday pressed President Trump and Republicans to support more funding for elections this year, saying it was crucial to include money ensuring people could cast ballots as part of the next coronavirus stimulus package. Lawmakers and voting advocacy groups took part in what amounted to a sustained campaign calling for the country to ensure people could cast votes either in person or by mail despite the coronavirus crisis. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) argued on one press call Thursday that at least $1.6 billion more was needed to guarantee Americans could vote in November. “This next month is critical for our democracy, I can’t think of another time when we faced something quite like this in terms of our limitations,” Klobuchar told reporters. “I think we can do this, I really do, we simply must make sure that people have the right to vote.”Editorials: How Republicans are using the coronavirus to suppress votes | Richard L. Hasen/Los Angeles Times
Even in a pandemic, some Republicans are looking to suppress the vote for partisan political advantage. But the biggest power plays may come in November, and they could threaten our democracy. With most of the country under a stay-at-home order, in-peson voting right now is perilous. We don’t know what the situation will be like in November, but vote-by-mail is one way to help ensure that millions of Americans will be able to vote safely. Yet, across the country, some Republican legislators and leaders are opposing efforts to make voting safe and widespread. In Wisconsin, Republican legislators have refused to postpone Tuesday’s scheduled primary despite the serious health risk posed by in-person voting. Some have suggested Wisconsin Republicans are happy to have depressed turnout to help a Republican-backed state Supreme Court candidate win election. On Friday, Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, called the Legislature into special session on Saturday to consider an election delay and shift to a mostly vote-by-mail election. But the Republicans immediately rejected any change to the election. In Georgia, Republican state House Speaker David Ralston has opposed sending absentee ballots to every Georgia voter for the upcoming primary, claiming that such a change “will be extremely devastating to Republicans and conservatives in Georgia. Every registered voter is going to get one of these. … This will certainly drive up turnout.”Georgia: GOP House Speaker says vote-by-mail system would be ‘devastating to Republicans’ | Aras Folley/The Hill
Georgia state House Speaker David Ralston (R) is coming out against a recent effort taken by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to mail absentee ballot request forms to all voters in the state amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying the move could be “devastating” for Republican candidates.. Last week, Raffensperger announced the state would be mailing absentee ballot request forms to its nearly 7 million voters “in an effort to allow as many Georgia voters as possible to exercise their right to vote without leaving their homes.” The move came a week after the state postponed its presidential primary from March 24 until May 19, as officials nationwide have urged the public to stay indoors as much as possible and to avoid large gatherings in a bid to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. During an interview released on Wednesday, Ralston was asked about concerns he had regarding Raffensperger’s move.Georgia: Counties work to keep in-person early voting safe despite coronavirus | Amanda C. Coyne/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The coronavirus pandemic has forced elections officials to reexamine how to conduct voting while preventing the spread of disease. Potentially long voter lines, touch-screen voting machines and a high likelihood of more than 10 voters and poll workers in an indoor polling place present a challenge for election directors: They must conduct in-person balloting while trying to minimize voters’ and poll workers’ exposure to disease.Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb and Gwinnett are each still nailing down the details of how voting will go forward.“These circumstances are unique — they are unprecedented, actually — and I think public health takes precedence,” said Rick Barron, Fulton County elections director. Georgia’s presidential primary was postponed to the May 19 general primary. Although early voting had begun throughout metro Atlanta, it was suspended on March 19 due to the coronavirus. More than 275,000 people had voted by then, twice the amount that had at the same point in 2016. Early voting is expected to resume April 27. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is encouraging residents to vote by mail, and the state is sending every registered voter an absentee ballot application. The secretary of state’s office began mailing those applications Monday, March 30. However, each county is still required under state law to offer at least one early voting location in the three weeks before election day.Iowa: Election officials pushing vote by mail for June primary | Erin Murphey/Sioux City Journal
There will be a June 2 primary election in Iowa, state and local elections officials pledge. But those officials are encouraging Iowa voters to submit their ballots early through the mail in order to sidestep voting in-person on Election Day while the state may still be dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic. So serious is he about encouraging Iowans to vote by mail that Secretary of State Paul Pate, the state’s top elections official, plans to mail every registered Iowa voter an absentee ballot request form for the June primary. Pate even considered going to a 100 percent vote-by-mail election. He shelved that idea for the June primary, but it remains on the table for the November general election, if the virus is still spreading in Iowa this fall. “We’ve had to adapt,” Pate said. “It’s very fluid.” Iowa’s June 2 primary election features multiple competitive federal races. Five Democrats seek their party’s nomination in the state’s U.S. Senate race — the winner will face Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst. In western Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, four Republicans are challenging incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Steve King. And in eastern Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, two Republicans seek the nomination in what will be an open-seat race in the fall.Maryland: Election board reverses course on mail-only June primary, recommends limited in-person voting | Emily Opilo/Baltimore Sun
Yielding to pressure from voting rights advocates, the Maryland Board of Elections reversed itself Thursday, recommending the state offer at least one in-person voting center in each county for the June 2 primary despite concerns about the new coronavirus outbreak. The board’s new plan still needs the approval of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. It calls for a minimum of one voting center and a maximum of four in each of Maryland’s 24 counties. The centers would be offered on primary day only at sites typically used for early voting centers, subject to approval by the state. The reversal came just a week after the board recommended against offering such an option, a decision influenced by remarks from Webster Ye, director of the Maryland Department of Health’s office of governmental affairs. Ye warned board members that protective gear would not be available for poll workers and cautioned the outbreak wouldn’t peak until around July 4 — more than a month after primary day. A day later, Hogan dismissed Ye’s statements as “personal opinion."Michigan: May 5 elections are still on, but some want them postponed due to coronavirus concerns | Lauren Gibb/mlive
With COVID-19 continuing to spread in Michigan, voters are being encouraged to cast their ballots absentee in upcoming May elections - but some are calling for them to be postponed entirely out of concern for election worker safety. Local jurisdictions in 55 counties had May 5 elections scheduled before the coronavirus pandemic hit Michigan, most of which were for school and local government millages or bond proposals. Locals were given the option to reschedule any May ballot measures to the Aug. 4 election under a recent executive order from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and many took up the offer. In Washtenaw County, all three May ballot proposals were postponed, and a Jackson Public Schools millage was also bumped to August. Other ballot measures will move forward as scheduled, including a school millage put forward by the Kalamazoo Regional Education Service Agency.New York: Two Covid-19 Deaths At New York City Board of Elections, And More Than A Dozen Sickened | Brigid Bergin/WNYC
When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced last Saturday that he would postpone the April presidential primary, staff at the New York City Board of Elections breathed a sigh of relief. Some hoped the delay meant they could stop going into the office to protect their health and the health of people still entering them. BOE staff have paid a high price for showing up to work during the pandemic. To date, 15 people have tested positive for COVID-19 at the BOE’s main office in lower Manhattan, according to sources at the Board of Elections. Two people from the borough offices have died from the virus, with a third death that has not been officially linked to the disease. While Board of Elections staff were not explicitly deemed essential workers under the governor’s earlier executive order calling for a PAUSE, the city BOE’s Executive Director Michael Ryan told Gothamist / WNYC that they had been given guidance by the State Board of Elections to continue operations. “We at the Board have a legal mandate to conduct our jobs. The continuity of government depends in part on some of the work that we're doing,” Ryan said.North Carolina: With new federal money, officials planning for November elections | Jim Morrill/Charlotte Observer
North Carolina’s top elections official said Friday that much of the federal stimulus money the state expects to receive for elections will go to local boards to offset cuts caused by the pandemic. North Carolina is set to get $10.9 million for its elections from the $2.2 trillion bill that Congress passed last month. “Our real goal is to try to push as much of that money as we can down to the counties,” Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, told the Observer. “We’re at a time when we cannot do more with less.” With businesses closed and unemployment rising, the pandemic is expected to squeeze state and local revenues. N.C. officials are planning for an election that will be one of most important in memory, and one of the most fraught. Not only will millions of voters cast ballots for president and governor, but they’ll help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate and House and decide who controls the General Assembly. And they’ll do it in a public health environment no one can foresee. The coronavirus pandemic that has shut down much of the state could linger into fall.Ohio: Federal judge won’t change primary election plan implemented in face of coronavirus | Eric Heisig/Cleveland Plain Dealer
A federal judge on Friday declined to step in and change a plan Ohio lawmakers unanimously approved to alter the state’s primary election, which will now be held almost solely by mail through April 28 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. District Judge Michael Watson ruled that a coalition of voting-rights groups that filed suit Monday over the Ohio legislature’s plan did not show that the rights of residents would be disenfranchised enough to override the law.
Even if the plan, named House Bill 197, isn’t perfect, that’s not enough to intervene, the judge wrote in his 27-page opinion.
“The Constitution does not require the best plan, just a lawful one,” wrote Watson, whose courtroom is in Columbus. “As is apparent from the briefing in this lawsuit, every group has a different idea of what the best plan would be. But the Court will not declare the Ohio Legislature’s unanimous bill to be unconstitutional simply because other options may have been better.”
Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued a statement that did not address the ruling but said that “in these challenging times, Ohioans deserve an election done fairly and safely, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which represented the groups, said in a statement that “we are disappointed in the Court’s decision not to order changes to protect voters from disenfranchisement.”
The statement continued: “We will be watching the execution of the April 28 primary closely. If Ohio’s process prevents people from voting, it will have denied its citizens’ fundamental rights. And the state will hear from us.”
The primary election was previously set for March 17, though Ohio Health Department Director Dr. Amy Acton closed polling places out of concern for the coronavirus-related risks associated with large gatherings. Acton previously issued orders banning mass gatherings for the same reason.
State lawmakers late last month set aside a proposal from LaRose to preserve an in-person vote on June 2 and instead send postcards with instructions on how to obtain absentee-ballot applications to all registered voters who hadn’t previously voted early. Voters generally will be required to use their own postage stamp to send in their ballot application, and the process will go through April 28.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, while he signed the bill, noted that he would have liked a longer timeline for voters.
Lawmakers said wrapping the primary up sooner would allow for the state’s presidential delegates to be seated in time for the Republican and Democratic national conventions. They also noted that local government and education groups, which seek resolution on local levies and other ballot issues, need the results sooner because of their fiscal years.
The League of Women Voters of Ohio, the Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute and several state voters said in their lawsuit that the state’s timeline is too fast to conduct a proper election. They asked the court to take several steps, including pushing back the date, ordering county boards of elections to direct mail primary ballots with pre-paid envelopes, and expanding in-person voting.