Happy Memorial Day!
We’ll be brief so you can enjoy the rest of your holiday.
The FEC is Back in Business: At least, it should be in the coming weeks. Texas Republican Trey Trainor was confirmed as commissioner last week, albeit along party lines. It’s a major development nevertheless, because the Federal Election Commission has been effectively shut down since it lost its quorum of four commissioners in September. The agency will finally be able to take on the backlog of over 300 pending cases. (read more)
The Battle to Protect the 2020 Election: One would think that the concept of carrying out the November election without sacrificing public health or turnout is a nonpartisan one. It’s not.
The reality is that President Donald Trump and his allies continue to push misleading claims about voter fraud, and in some cases, the claims are baseless conspiracy theories. The strategy appears to be faltering, however, as Florida officials have finally closed the book on Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that voter fraud occurred during the 2018 midterm elections. (read more)
What to Know About Absentee Voting: The likelihood of a nationwide election conducted entirely by mail is slim, but nearly every election official is trying to move their state in that direction. If you are a voter who can or does not want to vote by mail, there’s also the option of early voting to avoid spending hours waiting to vote at a crowded polling place on Election Day. To find more information about voting in your state, click here.
Why Do So Many Americans Not Vote? It’s not an easy question to answer, but researchers at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation released a groundbreaking report that looks at who the 100 million non-voters in the United States are, and what could happen if every one of them cast a ballot in the 2020 election. (read more)
WhoWhatWhy and readers’ picks of the week:
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Rhode Island’s June 2 Presidential Primary Will Look Very Different (Boston Globe)
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Republicans Sue Newsom Over Vote-by-Mail Order for November Election (Los Angeles Times)
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De Blasio’s NYC Campaign Account Hit With $16K Fine by Regulator (New York Post)
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North Carolina Laws Expose Many Voters to Coronavirus Risks, Federal Lawsuit Says (WXII12)
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Tennessee Democrats Call for Voting by Mail, Expanding Early Voting (Fox17 Nashville)
