National: U.S. Election Technology Remains Vulnerable | Ann R. Thryft/EE Times

The threat of interference with our election systems became a major issue following the 2016 election. Media coverage focused on social media influences by foreign nation-states and other bad actors, and on voting machine insecurities. Yet at least as far back as the 2000 election, cybersecurity experts were warning us that election system infrastructure is vulnerable to getting hacked. In 2018, the US federal government allocated $380 million in federal funding for states to begin improving cybersecurity. Most states have used some of this money to update their election systems and processes, according to a report by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). But this is a huge job, because the attack surface in election systems is vast and complex, much more so than the those in both an IT network and an industrial control, or operational technology, network. In 2020, another $425 million was allocated to EAC to distribute for additional election security measures. That body is now telling states they can use those funds instead for disinfecting the polls due to the Covid-19 coronavirus. Meanwhile, there’s growing concern that Russia and other nation states will try to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. A new report by the Brennan Center for Justice found that Russia’s social media-driven election interference is both “more brazen” and more difficult to detect than it was in 2016.

National: Mail-in election mandates from Congress could be ‘recipe for disaster,’ says top state official | Joseph Marks/The Washington Post

State and local officials are warning that congressional efforts to prepare states for a possible national surge in mail-in voting in November may result in chaos instead of smoother balloting. They say more federal funding for such an effort, currently being debated as part of the $1.8 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill stuck in Congress, could overwhelm election officials with just seven months left to prepare for a presidential and congressional elections. Federal mandates for a largely mail-in election could well be a “recipe for disaster,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate (R), president of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), told me. Pate worries there may inadequate machinery to process ballots, poorly trained poll workers and a confused voting public. “You have 50 states with different levels of resources and history of how they do voting,” he said. “I want to caution Congress that there is no one-size plan that fits all of us.” The problem is symptomatic of the divide between Washington, where efforts to protect elections against myriad threats tend to happen in last minute compromises, compared with states and localities where it’s common to spend years developing new voting procedures and to lock them in place many months before elections. “Congress always seems to operate on a crisis basis, and sometimes that doesn’t work in reality,” Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos, who served as NASS president until 2019, told me.

National: House committee lukewarm on remote voting for Congress | Derek B. Johnson/FCW

A new report from the House Rules Committee expresses skepticism that remote voting in Congress could be conducted securely. The report, written by the Democratic majority staff, said that allowing members to cast votes outside the halls of Congress would represent “one of the biggest rule changes in the last century” and would raise constitutional issues. It also questioned whether technology to facilitate remote voting would be secure from cyber attacks, citing ongoing threats to election security from foreign governments. “In the wake of the 2016 election interference and potential 2020 election interference, implementing a secure method for voting would be critical and require an expert staff dedicated to ensuring there are no foreign or domestic attacks threatening the integrity of a vote by any Member, or threatening the system’s functionality as a whole,” the committee wrote. “Even with such a staff, we may not be able to thwart a cyber-attack that could prevent Congress from acting or delegitimize any vote Members take.”

National: Will COVID-19 force a massive absentee vote in November election? | Louis Jacobson and Amy Sherman/Politifact

The coronavirus pandemic has already forced more than a half dozen states to delay their Democratic primaries, with more states likely to follow. This has raised an urgent question: Could the pandemic still be dangerous enough in November that the general election will have to be held mostly or entirely by mail? On the federal level, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., have introduced a measure that would greatly increase the role of voting by mail, including the allocation of federal money to purchase equipment and cover printing and mailing costs. The bill would also expand in-person early voting to decrease lines on Election Day. Some election officials, including those who have advocated vote-by-mail for years, say that dramatically expanding mail balloting is feasible, given the amount of time between now and the November election. But making it happen would require aggressive action and governmental cooperation, experts say. “Every state will have to think about the possibility that the November elections will be mostly by mail, or potentially all by mail,” said Ohio State University law professor Edward B. Foley.  While many states now have either all-mail elections or no-excuse absentee voting, those that don’t would have to change their laws to allow “fear of becoming infected” to be counted as a legitimate reason for securing an absentee ballot, he said. For states that aren’t used to counting large numbers of absentee ballots, Foley said, “the ramp-up will be huge.” Still, “if there is political will to create postal voting for the entire nation in time for the November election, it can be done,” said Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News.

National: Election officials in both parties call for emergency funding to expand voting by mail before November | Amy Gardner, Elise Viebeck and Joseph Marks/The Washington Post

A bipartisan push to expand mail-in voting is underway across the country as election officials brace for a spike in demand from voters spooked by the coronavirus pandemic — despite Republican reluctance in Washington to help pay for it. House Democrats have asked for as much as $2 billion in emergency funding to distribute to election officials who are scrambling to expand absentee balloting and take other steps to avoid pandemic-related chaos on Election Day in November. Dozens of state and local election officials, both Republican and Democratic, have signaled their desire for the funding — a sign of how the crisis is altering the usually sharply divided politics around voting measures. Still, Republicans in Washington say they are inclined to oppose an effort to include the funding along with new rules on how states run their elections in a $2 trillion coronavirus response package, with some casting the effort as part of a Democratic strategy to try to load up the bill with unrelated pet priorities.

National: This Isn’t The First Time America Has Weathered A Crisis In An Election Year | Geoffrey Skelley/FiveThirtyEight

The COVID-19 pandemic has already disrupted public life in a number of ways — large events are canceled, restaurants are closed and many of us are stuck at home — but a fundamental aspect of our democratic society could also be under threat: voting. Already, eight states or territories have postponed their presidential primaries — but depending on how long this pandemic affects day-to-day life in the United States, it could impact the November general election, too. But this isn’t the first time our country has had to go to the polls in a time of crisis. Elections have occurred during economic catastrophes like the Great Depression as well as during both world wars. The good news is we’ve always managed to hold general elections — even in the midst of the Civil War — but the bad news is that our ability to vote is often hampered. And turnout has usually fallen because voting became harder or costlier in the face of natural or man-made calamities. Looking ahead to the November election, recent primary elections show that states need to be prepared for the worst when it comes to making sure people can vote despite a health crisis.

National: As Coronavirus Delays Primary Season, States Weigh Expanding Absentee Voting | Pam Fessler/NPR

The election-year coronavirus pandemic has pushed back elections in more than a dozen states, leading to growing interest in expanding voting by mail this year in order to keep pollworkers and voters safe. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has proposed sending all voters postage-paid absentee ballots to complete the state’s postponed March 17 primary. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has called for an all-mail special election April 28 to fill a congressional seat left open by the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings. Many other states are considering expanding absentee and mail-in voting for the remaining primaries, and even the general election. Democratic lawmakers, including Senators Amy Klobuchar and Ron Wyden, have introduced legislation that would require states to offer all voters in the country the option of casting their ballots by mail. “The right to vote is paramount and no citizen in this country should have to pick between exercising their right to vote and protecting their health,” said Klobuchar, who announced Monday her husband had been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. But the window to expand vote-by-mail is closing soon, proponents warn, because implementing such changes would entail extensive logistical challenges and widespread voter education.

National: Voting by Mail Would Reduce Coronavirus Transmission but It Has Other Risks | Jessica Huseman/ProPublica

Because of a rise in its Latino population, Gwinnett County in suburban Atlanta had to mail out absentee ballots with information in both English and Spanish in 2018. The result was chaos. The county accommodated the increased text by printing it in 6.5-point font, making each letter smaller than a sesame seed. Many voters were confused by the instructions — in particular, that they had to sign the back of the yellow envelope before returning it or their votes wouldn’t count. Gwinnett rejected 595 absentee ballots, a third of all those tossed in Georgia, often without notifying the spurned voters. Only a hurried lawsuit by the ACLU forced the county to reexamine the discarded ballots. The debacle caused in Gwinnett by this relatively minor tweak presents a cautionary lesson for election administrators amid a pandemic-driven flurry of calls for a massive expansion of voting by mail. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced legislation this month to promote and help fund mail-in ballot efforts, and several states that have delayed primaries are mulling whether to conduct them by mail.

National: Calls for vote-by-mail rise with stay-at-home orders | Kelly Mena/CNN

Election officials and voting rights groups are calling for a general move to an all vote-by-mail system for remaining primaries and the November general election as the spread of the novel coronavirus continues to shut down major cities and states across the US. Ellen Weintraub, one of three current members of the Federal Election Commission and its former chairwoman, said this week that voting by mail is a “necessary and urgent” step in the face of the pandemic. “As Congress and the White House race to save American lives and preserve America’s economy, they must also act swiftly to protect America’s democracy,” Weintraub said in a statement Thursday. “No one should have to risk their life — or the lives of their loved ones — to cast their vote.” She joined a chorus of election officials and voting rights advocates across the country that have been pushing for a radical change to how American exercise their most fundamental right in the face of an unprecedented health crisis.

National: House considers voting options as members fall ill | Christina A. Cassidy and Mary Clare Jalonick/Associated Press

With at least two members of the House testing positive for coronavirus, Democrats are recommending that they pass a nearly $2 trillion economic rescue passage by unanimous consent, meaning no lawmakers would have to be present for the vote. If that doesn’t work — only one member has to object to stop it — then House Democrats say there are other options for voting from afar, including proxy votes that could see a handful of members casting votes for others. The options are discussed in a new report commissioned by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and released late Monday evening. One option Democrats are taking off the table: remote electronic voting. The report, written by House Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern, D-Mass., determined there were too many security concerns in addition to logistical and technical challenges in the middle of the public health crisis.

National: As Lawmakers Push for Remote Voting Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Here’s What a Virtual Congress Could Look Like | Alexandra Hutzler/Newsweek

For the first time in 231 years, Congress may be forced to vote remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic, but how that would work isn’t clear—it’s never happened before. “Our priority is to take care of the needs of our constituents, but for us to act as swiftly and forcefully as we are going to need to do, we have to be able to convene,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) told Newsweek. “Considering that colleagues of ours are testing positive or are under self-quarantine, I want us to still be nimble and able to help.” A deserted Capitol Hill isn’t that far-fetched. As Congress debates the stimulus package, 435 House members have already left Washington, D.C. and the 100 Senators are expected to leave after the final vote. Three members—one senator and two representatives—have tested positive for the virus. With an increasing number of states imposing shelter-in-place orders to combat the spread of the virus, members may have to make decisions about the future of the country from their own homes when sessions reconvene. The idea is controversial—Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opposes the idea of remote voting. But Swalwell is one of nearly 70 House Democrats to formally request the chamber change rules to allow lawmakers to vote remotely during national emergencies.

National: ‘Election Software I Hacked In 2005 Is Still In Use’: Cyber Security Expert Harri Hursti On 2020 Presidential Election | CBS

The presidential election is less than eight months away and New York resident and cybersecurity expert Hari Hursti is already sounding the horn about potential issues with voting machines around the country. The computer hacker has been studying election interference and the problems with voting technology since the mid 2000s, and his new HBO documentary “Kill Chain: The Cyber Wars On America’s Election” demonstrates that not much has changed in the past decade. “If someone tried to explain to me everything I learned in the last 15 years, I wouldn’t believe them” said Hursti in an interview with CBS Local’s DJ Sixsmith. “The most frightening thing is that from 2006 to now, nothing changed. The actual software that I hacked in 2005 is still in use. Those machines are still in 20 states. They’re still around. Everything is so outdated and it is so hard to make people understand the reality that this needs to be fixed or things will be getting worse.”

National: Democrats see coronavirus stimulus as last, best chance for vote-by-mail push | Joseph Marks/The Washington Post

Democrats are pushing hard to include a huge expansion of voting by mail in a mammoth coronavirus stimulus bill being crafted on Capitol Hill, arguing the nation is ill prepared to ensure the November contest is conducted safely and securely. If the virus is still active on Election Day, they worry that could devastate turnout, leading to widespread doubt the outcome reflects the will of the people and damaging faith in the electoral process even more than potential Russian hacking and disinformation. Concerns are rising as seven states have already delayed their presidential primaries because of worries about the health of voters and elderly poll workers. But, as with the fight against Russian election interference, the move to allow states to hold elections by mail is sparking an ideological battle between Democrats who want to require that states dramatically increase such capabilities and Republicans who consider such top-down mandates government overreach. The battle over election funding is just one of many sticking points holding up the unprecedented $1.8 trillion rescue package as lawmakers scramble to respond to the pandemic. Senate Democrats blocked a vote on the bill last night out of concern it tilted too far in favor of businesses and lawmakers will be negotiating again this morning. The price tag for a nationwide vote-by-mail system would likely land between $982 million and $1.4 billion, according to a Brennan Center for Justice analysis. The center estimated it would cost about $2 billion to also make other election improvements such as expanding early voting, maintaining safe in-person voting and making online voter registration easier.

National: Senators urge Congress to include election funds in coronavirus stimulus | Maggie Miller/The Hill

Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Chris Coons (Del.) urged the leaders of the House and Senate on Friday to include election security funding in an upcoming coronavirus funding package. “As Congress prepares additional legislation to protect the American people from COVID-19 and provide financial relief, we also must protect our elections,” Klobuchar and Coons wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “Americans are facing unprecedented disruptions to their daily lives, and we need to make sure that in the midst of this pandemic people do not lose their ability to vote,” the senators emphasized. Klobuchar, the lead Democrat on the elections-focused Senate Rules Committee, and Coons highlighted a report released by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice that called on Congress to appropriate around $2 billion to states to allow the November elections to go forward following the coronavirus pandemic.

National: States Begin Prep for Mail-In Voting in Presidential Election | Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline

States have begun reshaping election policies to expand access to mail-in voting. Election officials in states with restrictive absentee requirements are looking for ways to allow as many voters as possible to use absentee ballots, a safer alternative to in-person voting in a global pandemic. If this crisis continues into November, however, some experts warn that a pivot to voting by mail could strain state resources and disenfranchise certain voters if not handled properly. U.S. elections have been in flux since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland and Ohio all delayed their Democratic primaries. New York officials also are considering delaying that state’s April 28 primary. But many states are taking their responses to COVID-19 further. Voting by mail looks different in each state. While most states allow all voters to cast a mail-in ballot, 17 states restrict absentee voting to people who have disabilities, who are ill or who would be out of town on Election Day.

National: Coronavirus Spurs Vote-By-Mail Push, But Barriers Remain | Carrie Levine, Center for Public Integrity/Time

The coronavirus pandemic has already prompted state after state to delay their primary elections, including a chaotic last-minute scramble in Ohio last week and depressed turnout in states that went ahead. The disruptions are prompting widespread calls for expansion of absentee ballot and vote-by-mail options before the November election. But there are no magic fixes in a country where the rules governing elections make up a confusing patchwork from state to state. Expanding universal vote-by-mail options for November’s election will require either the passage of federal legislation or a series of changes to state laws, especially in the states that now require an excuse for absentee ballots. On March 18, U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, both Democrats, introduced legislation requiring, among other things, 20 days of early in-person voting, as well as no-excuse vote-by-mail options in every state. The federal government would reimburse states for the costs of putting the measures in place, though the bill doesn’t specify an amount and the tab could be high. Money and momentum matters, though states would still quickly have to make a series of decisions governing how such ballots would make their way into voters’ hands and be returned, handled and counted securely; the deadline to return ballots to be counted; as well as how to verify them and give voters the chance to address problems — questions different states answer in different ways.

National: The Lessons of the Elections of 1918 | Dionne Searcey/The New York Times

Across the country, citizens were ordered to hunker in their homes to avoid catching a deadly virus even as some people thought it was nothing worse than a seasonal cold. In the midst of fear and sickness, politicians had to decide how to hold scheduled elections, and the global pandemic was subject to political spin. The year was 1918 when a deadly flu outbreak gripped the nation, infecting about a third of the world’s population and killing 675,000 people in the United States alone. That crisis, which was known as the Spanish flu, took place in a completely different time technologically and politically. But the reaction then, where local governments took charge and made decisions on how to proceed with voting, offer some guidance for the situation today as the pandemic arrives in a federal election year. In the 1918 election — midterm contests, where President Woodrow Wilson’s Democratic Party was fighting to keep control of Congress — keeping polling places open was a patchwork of decisions by local officials. “Everything became this kind of wheeler-dealer hustle,” said Kristin Watkins, an expert in pandemics and director of grants at Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs whose studies involved reviewing 1918 elections.

National: Nationwide changes needed to make election coronavirus-ready could cost $2 billion: study | Marty Johnson/The Hill

Costs for the federal government to make it safe for voters to participate in the general election could add up to $2 billion, should the coronavirus still be a concern in November, a new study by an independent think tank shows. The study, which was conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice, outlines several sweeping nationwide changes to the current voting system such as universal mail-in voting, easier online voter registration and more. According to study, the process of mailing and receiving ballots would cost between $413 million and $593 million alone. For example, costs would be incurred in many states from ballot box construction — a place where voters could go and drop off their mail-in ballots. At least four states — California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — already have drop-off ballot boxes.  Another big chunk of the cost — approximately $270 million — would go to maintaining and bolstering in-person polling places.

National: HBO’s ‘Kill Chain’ reveals scary reality: U.S. voting system under attack | Nadine Matthews/New York Amsterdam News

Is America’s voting process broken? Recent developments aren’t encouraging. For instance, in May of 2019 Sen. Kamala Harris along with twelve other senators, introduced the Protecting American Votes and Elections (PAVE) Act in the senate. It sought to mandate that states secure elections by use of a paper ballot and new cybersecurity standards for federal elections. Republicans, though, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have proven to be better at blocking bills than Hakeem Olajuwon was at blocking shots; the PAVE Act was just one of five election security bills Republicans didn’t even allow to come to the floor. They also give no indication of allowing any such bill to the floor, even in the face of reports by U.S. Intelligence just last month that Russia is currently attempting to interfere with the 2020 elections. Harris and the other senators introduced the act after reports, from both Former FBI Head and Special Counsel Robert Mueller and members of the nation’s intelligence apparatus, found that Russia had, in fact, tried to influence the 2016 elections via electronic means, and continues to do so daily.

National: ‘We Need To Go To Paper Ballots’: Director Sarah Teale Talks 2020 Presidential Election Ahead Of HBO Doc ‘Kill Chain’ | CBS

The 2020 presidential election is less than eight months away and there are still major concerns about the country’s election technology. A new documentary from HBO called “Kill Chain: The Cyber War On America’s Elections” follows hacker and cyber security expert Harri Hursti as he travels around the world to expose the issues with America’s voting system. Director Sarah Teale has been following this issue since the mid 2000s and not much has changed since her first documentary “Hacking Democracy.” “We did the first film in 2005 and it came out in 2006. It got nominated for an Emmy and thought it would institute and awful lot of change and nothing changed,” said Teale in an interview with CBS Local’s DJ Sixsmith. “In 2016, here we were facing attacks from outside the US, which was very scary, and still wide open. Coronavirus presents its own particular challenge because potentially for the primaries, people are not going to be able to go to their local precinct. In a way, it’s quite good because it would lead to paper mail in ballots.”

National: Everything to know about states moving and changing their primaries over coronavirus | Zach Montellaro/Politico

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown America’s electoral system into shock, prompting officials in six states so far to move presidential primaries as the federal government urges people not to gather in large groups. Connecticut became the latest state to push back its vote on Thursday, and even more states are considering delays. Meanwhile, election officials are also gaming out the changes they can make to voting systems to allow Americans to participate in elections while keeping themselves safe and preventing the spread of the virus. Tom Perez, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has urged states not to postpone their primaries and instead embrace expanded voting by mail. But Perez has little authority over how individual states conduct their elections. 23 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and other territories have yet to vote in the presidential contest, and we are tracking developments in every one as the calendar shifts and states puzzle through when — and how — people can vote. Here’s what has happened so far in all the states that were scheduled to vote from mid-March through the end of April.

National: Coronavirus threatens the November election, can vote by mail save it? | Evan Halper/Los Angeles Times

As states scramble to postpone presidential primaries, election workers abandon their posts, and voters worry about the risk of contagion in crowded polling places, the question of how the nation is going to pull off a general election in November has generated increasing anxiety. Some states are much better prepared than others. In a significant swath of the nation, however, most voters still lack the one viable option for casting ballots that doesn’t put their health at risk in a time of pandemic: voting by mail. Now the decades-long push by advocates and many lawmakers to make that alternative universally available has gained new momentum amid a public health crisis. Backers are racing to overcome longstanding political barriers so that states that have resisted can start confronting the huge logistical challenges involved in a quick shift away from in-person voting. “Ohio, Louisiana, Georgia and other states are showing that without vote-by-mail, states might not be able to hold elections at all,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) said in an email, referring to states that have postponed scheduled primaries. He and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) are rallying colleagues behind their bill that would require all states to allow citizens to vote absentee. “I understand that standing up a new election system will be a heavy lift, but in the face of this pandemic, vote by mail is the best choice we have to keep our democracy running,” Wyden said.

National: Coronavirus pandemic makes U.S. more vulnerable to serious cyberattack, lawmakers warn | Joseph Marks/The Washington Post

The United States is increasingly vulnerable to a cyberattack targeting hospitals, food supplies or other vital functions during the coronavirus pandemic, lawmakers and experts say. They’re calling on the Trump administration to take bold action to keep adversaries at bay. Already during the outbreak, unidentified adversaries launched what appears to be an unsuccessful digital attack aimed at overwhelming computer networks at the Health and Human Services Department. A separate effort spread misleading claims that President Trump planned to impose a nationwide lockdown over text message, encrypted apps and social media platforms. “There are actors out there in cyberspace that think we’re vulnerable,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R- Wis.), who co-chaired the recent Cyber Solarium Commission on the future of U.S. cybersecurity, told me. “At a minimum, we need to impose costs on whoever did this. We don’t want the signal to be that now is a good time to take advantage of the U.S.” The pandemic has heightened concerns among cyber hawks that the United States hasn’t done enough to deter digital attacks from adversaries such as Russia and China. And they worry a lack of serious consequences now could embolden adversaries to target vital services such as medical care or food supplies and cost people’s lives.

National: Coronavirus contingency plans may also pose election security challenges | Joseph Marks/The Washington Post

Coronavirus is dealing election officials across the country a serious curveball even as they strain to keep the 2020 contests secure against another threat: Russian hacking. Officials are now forced to contemplate contingency plans to potentially overhaul their voting systems so Americans can still cast their ballots in a pandemic – and still ensure the process is secure. “Cybersecurity of elections is still a very real concern, so we have to walk and chew gum at the same time,” Lawrence Norden, director of the Election Reform Program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, told me. “We need to make big changes to ensure everyone can vote safely while we still have our eyes on the issue of cybersecurity.” One major option surfacing now is surging vote-by-mail programs so citizens can avoid the polls. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez called for states to shift to widespread mail-in voting “wherever practicable” on MSNBC last night. “That’s how you can solve the problem,” he said. But this route could create security problems of its own, election experts warned — especially if it’s implemented in a tight time frame. For example, officials would have to put safeguards in place to ensure mailed-in ballots are secure throughout their journey to election offices and to prevent U.S. adversaries or those seeking to tamper with the vote from sending in phony ballots to sow confusion. They’d also have to guard against misinformation related to the vote-by-mail process and figure out how to deliver ballots to people without street addresses. There’s also a heightened concern about people coercing friends and family members to vote for particular candidates with write-in ballots because the voters aren’t entering a private booth or cubicle to cast their votes.

National: Voting by Mail Is the Hot New Idea. Is There Time to Make It Work? | Nick Corasaniti and Stephanie Saul/The New York Times

In Wisconsin, Democrats sued elections officials to extend voting deadlines. In Rhode Island, the secretary of state wants all 788,000 registered voters to receive absentee ballot applications. In Maryland, a special election to replace the late Representative Elijah E. Cummings will be conducted entirely by mail. As the coronavirus outbreak upends daily life and tears at the social fabric of the country, states are rapidly searching for ways to protect the most sacred institution in a democracy: voting. With gatherings of people suddenly presenting an imminent health threat, state officials and voting rights activists have begun calling for an enormous expansion of voting by mail — for both the remaining Democratic presidential primary race and, planning for the worst-case scenario, the general election in November.

National: Senators Klobuchar and Wyden introduce bill to promote mail-in voting amid coronavirus crisis | Maggie Miller/The Hill

A group of Democratic senators led by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced legislation on Wednesday to promote mail-in and early voting to decrease the spread of the coronavirus. The Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act (NDEBA) would ensure voters have 20 days of early voting in all states, require that all mail-in ballots submitted during 21 days leading to an election be counted, and ensure that all voters have the option to request absentee ballots. The legislation would also provide $3 million to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to begin implementing some of the bill’s requirements, along with reimbursing states for doing the same. Both Klobuchar and Wyden pointed to recently delayed primaries in Ohio, Kentucky, Louisiana, Georgia, and Maryland because of coronavirus fears in emphasizing the need to utilize mail-in ballots. In-person voting dropped in Florida, Arizona and Illinois on Tuesday, when the states held their primaries.

National: States urged to clarify election procedures during pandemic | Benjamin Freed/StateScoop

As the ongoing coronavirus pandemic scrambles how states will administer long-scheduled elections for presidential primaries and local races, one election-security expert says that officials need to do a better job of clarifying who has the authority to reschedule or change the formats of upcoming votes. “Things voters deserve to have is a clear set of authorities, a clear set of guidelines,” said Chris DeLuzio of the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security. Already, five states — Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio and Maryland — have delayed their primary elections from March and April until June, amid fears that drawing people out to polling places could sully efforts to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes. In four of the states, governors or secretaries of state had the authority to delay elections. In Ohio, which was scheduled to hold its primary Tuesday, the vote was only called off at the last minute when the state health director ordered polling places closed, after a judge rejected a lawsuit by Gov. Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose to push the election back. “Ohio’s a cautionary tale,” DeLuzio told StateScoop. Clearly identifying who can order an election to be rescheduled, he added, “should be memorialized in the election code so there’s never a question whether something can be properly done.”

National: Coronavirus has already disrupted the election. Some states are looking to vote by mail as a solution. | Kevin Collier/NBC

As the coronavirus leaves voters fearing polling places, states that don’t already allow everyone to mail their ballot are trying to figure out how to do so. Federal law requires that states provide some sort of means for members of the military and citizens abroad to cast their votes. While a majority of states also offer “no excuse” absentee ballots, meaning anyone can request one, more than a dozen do not. In most cases, the state’s chief election official doesn’t have the power to single-handedly implement voting by mail, and even if they could, that means a new host of logistical hurdles. “We’re looking at all of our options right now,” one Texas state official, who was not authorized to comment on the matter publicly, said on the condition of anonymity. “We don’t know what exactly we’re going to end up doing. There’s the legal end of it, which you’ve got the governor’s disaster declaration that helps, and we’ve got to figure out where that ends and a court order begins.” “The realistic problem is infrastructure,” the official said. “The counties just aren’t set for big volumes of voting by mail.”

National: Nationwide drive to safeguard voting intensifies as coronavirus spreads | Isaac Stanley-Becker and Amy Gardner/The Washington Post

Elections officials and party leaders faced deepening dilemmas on Wednesday about how to carry out the most fundamental democratic exercise — voting — in the face of the spread of the novel coronavirus. Additional states delayed contests scheduled for the spring, while Democratic Party leaders stepped up their calls for states to adopt emergency measures to ensure access to the polls as officials pushed to limit the size of public gatherings. The Democratic National Committee and the Wisconsin Democratic Party sought a solution in federal court, suing Wisconsin elections commissioners to get an emergency judgment extending Wednesday’s deadline to register to vote electronically and by mail and lifting requirements that absentee ballots be received by Election Day. The national party is confronting vexing questions about its projected timeline for concluding the presidential nominating contest and putting forward a candidate at its July convention. While former vice president Joe Biden extended his dominant lead with wins in Tuesday’s three primary races, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) declined to bow out of the race immediately. The effort to develop voting contingencies took on new urgency as the three contests that unfolded on Tuesday showcased what experts described as unprecedented challenges involved in conducting in-person voting during a public-health emergency.

National: Elections amid coronavirus: How officials aim to keep voters safe | Alfred Ng/CNET

The coronavirus outbreak has put much of the US out of service, shutting down schools, stores and sports events for the foreseeable future. With several crucial primaries coming up in the US presidential race, election officials need to figure out how to get the vote out while handling a public health crisis. On Monday, we got a sign of just how fluid the situation is, as Ohio planned to postpone its primary, a day ahead of scheduled voting. Three other states — Arizona, Florida and Illinois — are forging ahead with their primaries Tuesday. It was just on Friday that election officials for those states issued a group statement saying they planned to keep the primaries going, despite the outbreak. Several of those states are considered battleground states for the presidency. “They voted during the Civil War. We’re going to vote,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a press conference Friday. That was two days before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday urged against gatherings of more than 50 people throughout the next eight weeks. Then on Monday afternoon, President Donald Trump advised against gatherings of more than 10 people. At around the same time, Ohio Gov.Mike DeWine announced that he planned to postpone the state’s primary to June 2.