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Remember the last time you voted? If you’re like many Texans, you queued outside your polling place, maybe chatted with fellow voters while you waited. As you reached the end of the line, poll workers stood nearby to answer any questions and you handed over your ID. You then stepped over to use an electronic voting machine, just like hundreds of other voters before you that day and hundreds more afterward. Imagine if you had to do that now. The coronavirus outbreak has upended our way of life, and our elections are not immune. Gov. Greg Abbott has postponed the primary runoffs until July 14, hoping that the current crisis will have abated, but according to experts, even if the virus is seasonal and we can anticipate relative safety in the summer, it is expected to return in the fall — just in time for Election Day. No one should be expected to choose between protecting their health and exercising their right to vote. Abbott has resisted calls to explore other options beyond delaying the runoffs, so it falls to Secretary of State Ruth Hughs — as the chief elections officer in Texas — to take the lead, making sure we are prepared and have the needed resources.

West Virginia: Governor moves primary election to June | David Beard/The Dominion Post

Gov. Jim Justice announced Wednesday morning that he has moved the primary election date form May 12 to June 9. Also, the return-to-school date has moved from April 20 to April 30. Justice said he made his decision after consulting with Secretary of State Mac Warner and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who both appeared with him at his daily COVID-19 press briefing, and health officials. Justice said he’d hoped to be able to keep the May 12 date, but the projections for the course of the coronavirus spread and the likelihood senior voters wouldn’t be able to appear at polling places dictated otherwise. “Its ever so apparent that that’s absolutely the wrong thing to do,” he said. Assuming schools do re-open April 30, Justice said that the all would be closed by June 6, so June 9 is the first Tuesday after all schools will be closed. “The privilege of voting is unbelievable and we all should remember that,” he said. “I want this to be the biggest turnout of all time.”

West Virginia: Primary rescheduled over fears of virus spread | Anthony Izaguirre/Associated Press

Gov. Jim Justice rescheduled West Virginia’s May 12 primary election to June 9 on Wednesday, citing fears about the coronavirus spreading at polling places. Justice said medical experts told him that having the primary on its originally scheduled date would be unsafe for voters and poll workers, since health officials have warned of a surge in the coming weeks. “There is no question moving this date is the right thing to do,” said Justice, a Republican. Justice said he had wanted to preserve the May primary date, but he has been “bombarded” with requests to postpone the election. He said the new June date will result in fewer people at polling places since it falls after the school year. Secretary of State Mac Warner has said he mailed absentee ballot applications to registered voters in a bid to encourage mail-in voting. The applications should arrive during the first week of April, according to Warner. He said deadlines on those applications, as well as the early voting period, will be extended.

Wisconsin: Judge signals he will expand voting but not delay Wisconsin’s election | Patrick Marley/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A federal judge is signaling he will not move next week’s presidential primary but will expand people’s ability to vote — possibly by allowing them to cast ballots by mail after election day because of the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. District Judge William Conley will hold a hearing at 1 p.m. over what changes, if any, he should make to Tuesday’s election as mayors and clerks warn that voters and poll workers could be sickened and ballots could go uncounted. In a video conference with attorneys Tuesday, Conley indicated he did not think he could change the election date but believed he could offer significant other help for voters. Conley did not allow reporters to listen in on Tuesday’s video conference, but three people familiar with his comments described them to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. How Conley will specifically rule remains unknown, but his comments suggest he could offer a middle-ground solution — one that doesn’t outright delay Tuesday’s election but does make it easier for people to vote than usual. Those bringing the suit hope to persuade him to allow people to continue to vote by mail after Tuesday. On the ballot is the presidential primary, a crime victims rights amendment to the state constitution and elections for state Supreme Court and local offices.

National: Coronavirus response is officially a new front in the election security fight | Joseph Marks/The Washington Post

The brief detente in partisan bickering over how to ensure people are safe to vote – and their votes are safe – amid the coronavirus pandemic just burst into open warfare. President Trump suggested on Fox and Friends that one reason he opposed a $4 billion infusion of election money Democrats sought for the coronavirus stimulus was that it might have led to more Democratic victories. Democrats wanted the money to go toward expanding secure vote by mail or early voting options to reduce the risk of people getting infected, should the pandemic still pose risks by November. “They had things, levels of voting that if you ever agree to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again,” he said, seeming to suggest that higher turnout would help Democrats. House Administration Committee Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) shot back, calling that “a monstrous example of putting party ahead of America” and accusing the president of forcing citizens to vote in unsafe ways. The stimulus bill ultimately included $400 million for election security related to the pandemic but no rules for how states must spend it. “Every American, regardless of party affiliation, should condemn the president’s apparent belief that it’s a good thing for American voters to risk their lives when safer voting alternatives are possible,” she said.

National: Pelosi, state Democrats push for more funds for mail-in voting | Maggie Miller/The Hill

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and more than 50 state Democratic officials advocated strongly on Tuesday for Congress to give states more funding to support mail-in and absentee voting efforts as part of the next coronavirus stimulus bill. “In terms of the elections, I think that we’ll probably be moving to vote by mail,” Pelosi said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday. “That’s why we wanted to have more resources in this third bill that just was signed by the president to get those resources to the states to facilitate the reality of life that we are going to have to have more vote by mail.” The coronavirus stimulus package signed into law by President Trump last week included $400 million to allow states to adapt the upcoming primary and general elections during the coronavirus crisis. That amount was far lower than the $4 billion proposed by Pelosi as part of the House version of the stimulus bill, which also would have required states to send absentee ballots to every registered voter and expand early voting. The final coronavirus stimulus package did not include any requirements for how states must use the $400 million. Pelosi said on Monday that she was disappointed the stimulus did not include funding for the U.S. Postal Service to send ballots to Americans, and said she hoped public opinion would help to push Republicans to support more funding for elections in the next coronavirus stimulus bill.

National: 16 States Restrict Access to Voting by Mail – How That Could Change 2020 Presidential Election During the Coronavirus Pandemic | Ashley Stockler/Newsweek

As the coronavirus pandemic heightens concerns about participation in November’s general election, advocates are calling on officials in the over one dozen states where voting by mail is heavily restricted to expand access to absentee ballots. According to research compiled by the National Vote at Home Institute, 16 states limit the distribution of absentee ballots—which can be mailed or otherwise delivered to the voter’s home—to residents who present a lawful excuse for avoiding in-person voting, such as planned travel or a disability. Of those states, five—West Virginia, Alabama, Indiana, Delaware and Massachusetts—have already waived these limitations for voters in upcoming primary and statewide elections because of public health concerns over the virus’ spread. The abilities of these and other states to expand vote-by-mail options come November are alternately limited by political will, state law or the state constitution.

National: Cyber Warfare Doesn’t Take a Break During Coronavirus Season; US Health Agencies Are Fending off DDoS Attacks and Disinformation Campaigns in the Midst of a Pandemic | Scott Ikeda/CPO Magazine

Unfettered by social distancing measures or economic concerns, cyber threat actors are taking full advantage of opportunities created by the coronavirus pandemic. United States health agencies are being tested by distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and social media disinformation campaigns as they scramble to respond to an unprecedented viral outbreak, and these attacks are thought to be backed by a hostile foreign government. A large-scale DDoS attack was directed at the U.S. Health and Human Services Department sometime around March 15. A spokesperson for the National Security Council stated that the attack did not do any substantial damage and that the networks are being “continuously monitored” to mitigate any future attempts. The DDoS attack involved millions of requests on the health agency’s servers over a period of several hours. A Health and Human Services spokesperson indicated that the government does not know who was behind the attack, but suspects a foreign government. The DDoS attack did not involve any network compromise, nor did it significantly slow down operations. The spokesperson indicated that the agency has put unspecified “extra protections” in place going forward.

National: How Russia’s Troll Farm Is Changing Tactics Before the Fall Election | Davey Alba/The New York Times

Ahead of November’s election, American intelligence officials and others are on high alert for mischief from Russia’s Internet Research Agency. Remember it? The Kremlin-backed group was identified by American authorities as having interfered in the 2016 election. At the time, Russians working for the group stole the identities of American citizens and spread incendiary messages on Facebook and other social media platforms to stoke discord on race, religion and other issues that were aimed at influencing voters. To avoid detection, the group has since evolved its tactics. Here are five ways its methods have shifted.

Editorials: States need billions to ensure safe elections | Katie Hobbs and Kim Wyman/CNN

Over the weekend, New York joined Delaware and Pennsylvania as the latest states to move their primaries to June in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, the territory of Puerto Rico, which had already moved its primary to late April, now finds itself less than a month away from holding an election, pending another postponement. While a few weeks may seem like an eternity in the midst of a pandemic whose impact is growing by the hour, it leaves little time for state officials to implement emergency plans to administer fair, free and accurate elections in this crisis. These postponements have created concerns that the November general election could be delayed. This is not a good option. Delaying would create confusion by upending the one Election Day that Americans have collectively observed since 1845. Instead, we should invest our time over the next several months toward preparing for November and addressing the problem the coronavirus has made quite apparent: Not all states have the resources to adapt to an environment that discourages social contact. As such, they need significant funding to help them successfully and safely conduct elections. As part of a $2 trillion historic package to boost our health care system and provide financial relief to households and businesses, Congress provided a small down payment to our democracy with $400 million allocated to protecting our elections. But states need billions, not millions, to ensure secure voting.

Editorials: The November election is going to be a nightmare | Paul Waldman/The Washington Post

President Trump has a unique propensity to blurt out what others will only imply, and on “Fox & Friends,” the president offered a revealing lament about the proposals House Democrats had made for the rescue package that eventually passed. “The things they had in there were crazy,” he said. “They had things — levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” That may be an exaggeration, but what is clear is that the November elections could be an absolute mess, not just in how difficult it could be to vote but in determining a winner as well. The Democratic proposal Trump was referencing would have given money to states to aid in conducting this year’s elections, which have been complicated so severely by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to the funding, it would have required that states make mail-in voting available to everyone (right now many states require you to have an excuse they consider valid to vote absentee) and in the case of a national emergency, mail ballots to every registered voter. Because of Republican objections, those requirements didn’t make it into the final bill. It did include $400 million in funding to help states prepare for November. That will help, but it’s unlikely to be enough, as states will have to scramble to print more mail ballots and pay for postage, create more dropoff locations, hire people to process ballots, create online registration systems, and inform the public of the changes. The Brennan Center estimates that shoring up the election system in the wake of the coronavirus will cost $2 billion.

Georgia: Voters mailed absentee ballot request forms for May 19 Georgia primary | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia election officials began mailing absentee ballot request forms Monday to the state’s 6.9 million active voters, making it easier for them to vote without having to show up in person. Voters who fill out and return the request forms will then be mailed a ballot for the May 19 primary, which includes candidates for president, Congress, the Georgia General Assembly and county offices.The mass mailing of absentee ballot request forms is an effort by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to encourage remote voting during the coronavirus pandemic. Georgia voters will also have the option of voting in person on election day and during three weeks of early voting starting April 27. Absentee ballot request forms will continue to be mailed through this week. Once voters return the forms to county election offices, ballots will be sent within three days.

Indiana: ‘A logistical nightmare’: Local counties preparing for mail-in election | Max Lewis/WSBT

“A logistical nightmare” is how county clerks are describing Indiana’s now June primary. The state election commission made several changes after the primary was delayed, including allowing everyone to vote by mail. The coronavirus already caused Indiana’s primary to be moved from May 5th to June 2nd. But with expectations that social distancing will extend into early summer, the way we now vote is going to change. Our mailbox may be the new ballot box when Indiana votes at the beginning of June. The state’s election commission made major changes last week, one of the biggest is allowing everyone to vote by mail. Elkhart County Clerk Chris Anderson says the prospect of having the county’s around 50,000 registered voters all getting ballots in the mail will be a challenge.

Iowa: Secretary of State will mail every registered voter a ballot request form for June primary | Stephen Gruber-Miller/Des Moines Register

The Iowa Secretary of State’s office will mail every registered voter in Iowa an absentee ballot request form ahead of the state’s June 2 primary, it announced Tuesday. The plan to send ballot request forms to 2 million Iowans comes as concerns about in-person voting have mounted due to the coronavirus pandemic. Other states have moved their primary dates back out of fear of spreading the virus as people gather at polling sites. Iowa’s June 2 primary is scheduled to go forward as planned, but Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is encouraging Iowans to vote by mail to reduce the spread of the virus. Last week, Pate extended the early voting period for mailed ballots to 40 days, up from 29. That means Iowans will be able to cast mailed ballots beginning on April 23. “The safety of voters while casting their ballots is our top priority,” Pate said in a news release. “The June 2 primary election will go on as scheduled because it’s important for Iowans to make their voices heard by voting. The safest way to vote will be by mail.” The ballot request forms will be sent as one mass mailing in mid- to late April, Pate said, and will include prepaid postage for return mailing to county auditors. Pate encouraged Iowans who hadn’t done so to register to vote or update their address so the form will be sent to the right location. Voters can register online. Iowans can also download the ballot request form online at the Iowa Secretary of State’s website.

Maryland: Legislative leaders call for in-person voting option for June 2 state primary | Emily Opilo and Pamela Wood/Baltimore Sun

The president of the Maryland Senate and the speaker of the state House called Tuesday on Gov. Larry Hogan to explore offering in-person voting as an option during the June primary, in spite of the new coronavirus outbreak. In a letter circulated to members of both chambers, Senate President Bill Ferguson and Speaker Adrienne A. Jones argued that voting is an essential activity, akin to the work of essential businesses that have remained open despite severe restrictions Hogan has implemented during the pandemic. “The state must explore potential options for in-person voting opportunities for a limited number of our citizens to ensure that we are demonstrating that democracy can still flourish in the midst of a public health emergency,” the Democratic leaders wrote. The letter comes as the state Board of Elections prepares to submit a plan to Hogan on the logistics of the June 2 primary, in which Marylanders will nominate candidates for president and the U.S. House. Baltimore voters will also nominate candidates for mayor, City Council president, comptroller and council seats. Earlier this month, Hogan issued an executive order postponing the primary from April 28 in response to the virus outbreak. At the same time, the Republican governor ordered the board to come up with a plan by Friday for how to carry out the rescheduled primary.

Nebraska: Election officials raise concern about conducting primary | Steve White/KHGI

Elections are still on, but who will go to the polls, and who will staff them, as the virus spreads? While Hall County Election Commissioner Tracy Overstreet prepared for election commissioner, she was thinking of a computer attack, not a biological one. She could be forced to replace 94 of 127 poll workers who are at high risk because of their age, if the May primary election continues as scheduled. “I think the idea of masks on poll workers really put the fear in poll workers and we’ve been taking nothing but cancelations since that news conference last week,” she told the Hall County Board, referring to comments from the governor and secretary of state. The state is encouraging people to vote by mail. But there again, Overstreet says she doesn’t have the staff to process all the requests as office help has been forced to stay home and care for kids, or are quarantining themselves.

New Mexico: GOP files lawsuit to block mail-in primary election | Tony Raap/Santa Fe New Mexican

The state Republican Party filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the New Mexico Supreme Court that aims to block an effort by more than two dozen county clerks to conduct the June primary election by mail. The lawsuit contends a mail-in primary election offers no ballot security and could lead to voter fraud. “You cannot monitor votes in such a mail-in ballot election,” New Mexico Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce said in a statement. “Many states that use this process can scan ballots for security, but New Mexico doesn’t have that technology.” The lawsuit comes a day after 27 New Mexico county clerks petitioned the state Supreme Court for an order to conduct the June 2 primary by mail to prevent the novel coronavirus from spreading further. The clerks said it would be impossible to carry out a normal election during the pandemic and that to do so would “violate their oath of office in order to protect the health and safety of their community.”

Ohio: All-mail Ohio voting called challenging | David Skolnick/The Youngstown Vindicator

Election officials in Mahoning and Trumbull counties say it’s going to be challenging to have a virtually all-mail April 28 primary, but they don’t expect problems. “It will be tough,” said Stephanie Penrose, Trumbull County Board of Elections director. “Don’t get me wrong, it will be a heavy workload. But we’re going to get it done.” Thomas McCabe, deputy director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections, said: “It’s a very tight window, but we’ll make it work.” Both counties reported getting hundreds of telephone calls a day since Thursday, the day after the state Legislature voted to extend the primary from March 17 to April 28. “We’ve been getting a lot of requests for ballots and numerous calls,” Penrose said. “The Legislature’s decision has drummed up interest in the election.” Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, canceled the March 17 in-person primary late the night before it was to be held at the request of Gov. Mike DeWine because of a public health concern about the COVID-19 pandemic. DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose called for the primary to be June 2 with mail voting extended and plans for in-person voting June 2.

Tennessee: Public concern over Shelby County election commission’s vote for new equipment | April Thompson/WREG

There is growing concern over how much input the public will have on the Shelby County Election Commission’s decision to buy new equipment to process paper ballots faster. Shelby County Election Administrator Linda Phillips says the county needs to be ahead of the curve and they need to be ready as the state is looking to expand paper ballot voting. “It’s very crucial that we replace our voting equipment. We have a very tight time deadline,” Phillips said. “We have to start mailing out absentee ballots for the August election in June.” However, some people fear public input on the matter will be hampered if the commission comes to a vote at its virtual meeting Wednesday. Grassroots advocate Steve Mulroy said the Shelby County Election Commission will choose from a list of proposals but the public has not had a chance to see any of them. “…They are offering us a chance to do public comments before they do their decision,” Mulroy said. “But, it won’t be informed public comment because we will be blind and won’t have any information on what they are choosing from.”

Tennessee: More Voting Machines Controversy in Shelby County | Jackson Baker/Memphis Flyer

Among the potential local casualties of the coronavirus, there is an unexpected one — the democratic process itself. At this week’s scheduled virtual meeting of the Shelby County Election Commission, the five Commissioners —three Republicans and two Democrats, in conformity with state regulations regarding majority party/minority party ratios — are primed to vote on Election Administrator Linda Phillips’ recommendations for new voting machines. Phillips has declared that the members of the Election Commission must take a definitive up-or-down vote on the vendor, whom she will recommend from among those manufacturers who responded to an RFP (request for proposal) issued earlier by the SCEC. She has declared that the decision must come now so that the machines can be in use for August voting in the county. For years, and for the last several months in particular, controversy has raged between activists who insist on voting machines that permit voter-marked ballots and advocates of machine-marked ballots. Phillips herself has expressed a preference for the latter type, equipped with paper-trail capability. By a narrow, party-line vote, the majority-Democratic Shelby County Commission, which must approve funding for the purchase, has expressed its own preference for hand-marked ballots. Given the fact that Phillips’ choice of machine type is more or less predictable, and that the cost factor will be built into the selection of vendor, that will put the County Commissioners in an awkward position of having to rubber-stamp whatever choice the SCEC passes on to them.

Wisconsin: Milwaukee normally has 180 voting sites; because of coronavirus, fewer than 12 polling places will be open April 7 | Mary Spicuzza and Alison Dirr Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Tuesday he is not comfortable telling residents to go to the polls on April 7 during the coronavirus pandemic, comments he made as the city pares back its polling locations to a small fraction of its normal total because of a shortage of poll workers. “My fear is that our election in Wisconsin might be the largest public event in the country in April,” Barrett said. Events large and small have been canceled across the nation, including in Milwaukee, as the coronavirus spreads. The City of Milwaukee expects to have only 10 to 12 voting sites — or possibly fewer — open for in-person voting citywide during its April 7 election day, Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Neil Albrecht said Tuesday. That’s a dramatic reduction from the 180 sites that are typically open on an election day. Albrecht cited a drastic shortage of poll workers as the reason for the change, saying that earlier in the week the city was down to 400 poll workers, rather than the 1,400 Milwaukee would typically have.

Wisconsin: Wisconsin poll worker shortage raises fears of uncounted votes | Patrick Marley and Molly Beck/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

More than 100 communities in Wisconsin don’t have any poll workers for the April 7 election and a record number of voters are overwhelming clerks with absentee ballots — leading to warnings that thousands of votes may not be counted. Nearly 60% of Wisconsin municipalities are short on poll workers, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. They are short almost 7,000 poll workers, and election officials are worried even more won’t show up on April 7 because of the coronavirus pandemic that is keeping people in their homes. “To create an illusion for the public that somehow everything is working fine I think is just not appropriate,” Commissioner Mark Thomsen said during an emergency meeting of the commission Tuesday. In Milwaukee, the shortage is pushing election officials to reduce the number of polling places from 180 to 10 or 12 — a scenario Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett characterized as “irresponsible.” In addition to their concerns about how the election will run, state election officials are worried about the ability of clerks to process the flood of absentee ballots that are hitting them.

Wisconsin: Voting sites closing due to coronavirus poll worker shortage | Patrick Marley and Craig Gilbert/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Some election clerks are so short of workers because of the coronavirus pandemic that they are planning to shutter polling places around Wisconsin — including many of them in Milwaukee. And at least one clerk is warning that some voters in the April 7 election won’t be able to return their absentee ballots in time to have them counted. Milwaukee needs about 1,400 poll workers to run its election but so far has fewer than 400, according to Neil Albrecht, director of the Milwaukee Election Commission. Another 300 workers are needed for the central location where absentee ballots are processed, but fewer than 50 had been hired as of last week. Training those poll workers is difficult because health officials say people must stay 6 feet away from one another to slow the spread of coronavirus. “Given the inability to train new poll workers, it is virtually certain that we will lack sufficient poll workers to staff the polling locations across the city, and will likewise lack the requisite number of staff members to process absentee ballots at the central count location,” Albrecht said in a court filing last week. As a result, the city likely won’t be able to staff all its voting locations, “leaving mail-in absentee voting as the only means currently by which Milwaukee voters will be able to vote for the spring election scheduled to occur on April 7,” Albrecht said.

National: Trump says election proposals in coronavirus stimulus bill would hurt Republican chances | Maggie Miller/The Hill

President Trump said Monday that the vote-by-mail proposal in the original Democrat-backed House version of the coronavirus stimulus bill would have ensured that no Republicans were ever elected again. “The things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if you ever agreed to, you would never have a Republican elected in this country again,” Trump said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.” “They had things in there about election days and what you do and all sorts of drawbacks. They had things that were just totally crazy.” Trump was referring to provisions that would have given $4 billion to states to boost mail-in and absentee ballots. Specific proposals included requiring states to send absentee ballots to every registered voter, requiring online and same-day voter registration, and expanding early voting by 15 days. House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who spearheaded the addition of the election funds and policies to the House version of the stimulus package, pushed back strongly against Trump’s comments on Monday, describing them as “morally bankrupt.” “The President says that if we make it easier to vote, Republicans will lose elections,” Lofgren said in a statement. “He is apparently willing to expose voters to the deadly COVID-19 for purely partisan political advantage.” She emphasized that “this is morally bankrupt and a monstrous example of putting party ahead of America. Every American, regardless of party affiliation, should condemn the President’s apparent belief that it’s a good thing for American voters to risk their lives when safer voting alternatives are possible.” Ellen Kurz, the founder and CEO of iVote, a political action committee, told The Hill that Trump’s “sentiments bring into stark relief why Republican officials across the country have taken every opportunity to keep people from voting.”

National: Trump: If it’s easy for people to vote, Republicans will never win again | Emily Singer/The American Independent

Donald Trump on Monday offered insight into why Republican lawmakers opposed a Democratic proposal in the coronavirus relief package that would’ve allowed states to shift their 2020 elections to all-mail ballots. “If you look at before and after, the things they had in [the bill] were crazy,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Monday morning. “They had things, levels of voting that if you ever agreed to it you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” Democrats have been pushing for a shift to absentee ballots in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that states could still hold elections even if the virus is still raging in November. Already, a number of states that do not allow for no-excuse absentee voting — that is, allowing voters to vote by mail for any reason — have had to postpone their primary contests, as requiring voters to show up at polling sites, and possibly wait in crowded lines for hours, could further spread the virus. “Without federal action, Americans might have to choose between casting a ballot and protecting their health. That’s wrong, and we must take swift action to address the problem,” Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Ron Wyden of Oregon — who introduced a bill to shift states to all-mail elections — wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. “The best way to ensure that this virus doesn’t keep people from the ballot box is to bring the ballot box to them. We must allow every American the ability to vote by mail.”

National: Trump says Republicans would ‘never’ be elected again if it was easier to vote | Sam Levine/The Guardian

Donald Trump admitted on Monday that making it easier to vote in America would hurt the Republican party. The president made the comments as he dismissed a Democratic-led push for reforms such as vote-by-mail, same-day registration and early voting as states seek to safely run elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Democrats had proposed the measures as part of the coronavirus stimulus. They ultimately were not included in the $2.2tn final package, which included only $400m to states to help them run elections. “The things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again,” Trump said during an appearance on Fox & Friends. “They had things in there about election days and what you do and all sorts of clawbacks. They had things that were just totally crazy and had nothing to do with workers that lost their jobs and companies that we have to save.” Democrats often accuse Republicans of deliberately making it hard to vote in order to keep minorities, immigrants, young people and other groups from the polls. And Republicans often say they oppose voting reforms because of concerns of voter fraud – which is extremely rare – or concerns over having the federal government run elections. But Trump’s remarks reveal how at least some Republicans have long understood voting barriers to be a necessary part of their political self-preservation. “I don’t want everybody to vote,” Paul Weyrich, an influential conservative activist, said in 1980. “As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

National: HackerOne cuts ties with mobile voting firm Voatz after it clashed with researchers | Sean Lyngaas/CyberScoop

HackerOne, a company that pairs ethical hackers with organizations to fix software flaws, has kicked mobile voting vendor Voatz off its platform, citing the vendor’s hostile interactions with security researchers. It’s the first time in its eight-year existence that HackerOne, which works with companies from AT&T to Uber, has expelled an organization from its bug-bounty-hosting platform, a HackerOne spokesperson said. The decision comes after Voatz assailed the motives of MIT researchers who found flaws in the company’s voting app. “After evaluating Voatz’s pattern of interactions with the research community, we decided to terminate the program on the HackerOne platform,” a HackerOne spokesperson told CyberScoop. “We partner with organizations that prioritize acting in good faith towards the security researcher community and providing adequate access to researchers for testing.” It is the latest security-related setback for Voatz, which is trying to make inroads in a market dominated by traditional voting machine manufacturers. In the last two years, a smattering of U.S. counties have used the Voatz smartphone app in elections to try to improve turnout.

National: The Postal Service, in trouble before covid-19, is fighting for its life | Joe Davidson/The Washington Post

The $2 trillion congressional coronavirus assistance package would provide badly needed relief for millions of Americans and businesses but little for one organization already in desperate financial health. The U.S. Postal Service has been in money trouble for years. Now, covid-19, the disease the virus causes, is forcing the quasi-governmental agency into a fight for its life. “What we’ve seen in the pandemic is the collapse of mail,” Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), chairman of the government operations subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service, said by phone. “While people are shipping packages, mail volume has collapsed.” Unless Congress acts quickly, the decline in mail because of covid-19 could soon close the constitutionally mandated mail service, according to Connolly and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the full Committee on Oversight and Reform. They called the situation “a national emergency” as they proposed postal relief measures. “As a direct result of the coronavirus crisis, it has become clear that the Postal Service will not survive the summer without immediate assistance from Congress and the White House,” Maloney and Connolly wrote in a letter Tuesday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “Postal Service officials warn that, without immediate intervention, the precipitous drop off in mail use across the country due to the coronavirus pandemic could shutter the Postal Service’s doors as early as June.”

National: Stimulus package provides United States Postal System no funding, postal service could shutter by June 2020 amid coronavirus | Nicole Goodkind/Fortune

Fifty years ago, a postal worker strike halted mail delivery. The eight-day strike, carried out by 150,000 letter carriers across 30 cities, prompted then-President Richard Nixon to declare an emergency and send in the National Guard to deliver mail. “The United States Postal System is a vital element of our entire communications system. The poor depend heavily upon it for medical services and also for government assistance,” Nixon said in an address to the nation. “Veterans depend on it for their compensation checks. The elderly depend on it for their Social Security checks.” Today, the Postal Service is just as essential: It delivers about 1 million lifesaving medications each year and serves as the only delivery link to Americans living in rural areas. Working with other delivery services like UPS, the agency supports $1.7 trillion in sales and 7.3 million private sector workers year, and this year will prove essential to delivering the 2020 Census to citizens as well as any vote-by-mail initiatives. The USPS is the federal government’s most favorably viewed agency, with an approval rating of 90%. Yet once again, the USPS is in crisis mode.

National: Coronavirus cripples voter registration efforts. Millions could be denied. | Alex Seitz-Wald/NBC