[EL] ELB News and Commentary 4/15/20

Tue Apr 14 20:32:26 PDT 2020

“Democratic voter motivation in Wisconsin has Republicans worried”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110728>
Posted on April 14, 2020 8:29 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110728> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democratic-voter-motivation-in-wisconsin-has-republicans-worried/2020/04/14/431df23e-7e77-11ea-a3ee-13e1ae0a3571_story.html>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“We Cannot Hold an Election Without a Functional Post Office”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110726>
Posted on April 14, 2020 1:32 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110726> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/november-election-post-office-bailout.html>:

All the plans we have for a safe and legitimate general election in November depend heavily<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/2020-election-coronavirus-bill-vote-by-mail.html> upon the ability to expand vote by mail. Yet those plans would be completely upended if the United States Postal Service collapses, a ridiculous but real possibility thanks to COVID-19 and President Donald Trump’s opposition to a postal service bailout<https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/11/post-office-bailout-trump/> as part of the federal government’s pandemic response. In every election but especially this year, the USPS is critical government infrastructure for our elections. With poll workers getting sick<https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-politics/poll-worker-at-chicago-voting-site-dies-of-coronavirus-election-officials-say/2255072/>, in-person polling places shutting down, and an expected flood of absentee ballot requests, a functioning postal service is essential to the health and safety of American democracy. We cannot let USPS collapse.

Democrats and Republicans are battling over whether Congress should mandate expanded vote by mail in November. The president—who regularly votes by mail—has raised unsubstantiated claims<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/09/trump-is-wrong-about-dangers-absentee-ballots/> of massive voter fraud<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/us/politics/vote-by-mail.html> connected to the practice. Congress so far has provided $400 million<https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/03/25/821521543/senate-coronavirus-bill-includes-400-million-to-protect-elections> to election officials nationwide for COVID-19 related expenses, although the necessary price tag may be $2 billion<https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/estimated-costs-covid-19-election-resiliency-measures>.

But whether or not Congress acts, mail-in ballots will naturally be more in demand for the general election if the pandemic continues to affect daily life. Five states already conduct elections mostly by mail. They are among the two-thirds of states<https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/absentee-and-early-voting.aspx>, including many of the swing states<https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/voting-mail-2020-race-between-biden-and-trump/609799/>, offering any voter who wishes to vote by mail to do so. These states are going to be inundated with absentee ballots, as evidenced by the explosion<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/us/politics/wisconsin-election-absentee-coronavirus.html> in absentee ballot requests that flooded into Wisconsin during its recent primary. With 175 of 180<https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/these-are-the-five-in-person-voting-centers-in-milwaukee-open-for-wisconsins-spring-primary-tuesday> polling stations closed in Milwaukee last week, voters faced the choice of voting absentee, waiting in long lines and risking their health, or simply not voting. We know what these voters will do in November if they have the choice….

Trump’s bizarre opposition to USPS appears to be rooted<https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/11/post-office-bailout-trump/> in his belief that the postal service is giving too good a deal to Amazon. Amazon’s owner, Jeff Bezos, also owns the Washington Post, which reports critically on Trump’s actions. Now, with Trump’s stated opposition to vote by mail as supposedly rife with fraud (it’s not<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/09/trump-is-wrong-about-dangers-absentee-ballots/>) and harmful to Republicans’ electoral chances (it’s not<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/us/politics/vote-by-mail.html>), his opposition to full USPS funding may harden.

Now is the time for Republican and Democratic state election officials to speak up about the crucial importance of USPS in running a successful election. The practice is being used safely and effectively in a number of Republican states, including Ohio and Utah. USPS is more like a public utility than a business, and it is perfectly reasonable for the government to subsidize it. It is especially important in cheaply connecting rural parts of the United States, areas that have strongly supported the president and whose support could waver with the USPS lifeline cut off.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“During the outbreak, an election timetable change both parties can support”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110724>
Posted on April 14, 2020 11:32 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110724> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Kevin Johnson<https://thefulcrum.us/voting/during-the-outbreak-an-election-timetable-change-both-parties-can-support>:

The first important date marks the end of “safe harbor,” the period established by federal law during which states are ensured their reported results will not be challenged in Congress. This year that deadline is set as Dec. 8. Six days later, Dec. 14, is when all 538 electors meet in their state capitals to vote. Those votes are not officially tallied by Congress for another three weeks, on Jan. 6, and the inauguration follows Jan. 20

That means 77 days pass between election and inaugural, but states have only 35 of them to process all the ballots and resolve all disputes and recounts — or 41 days if they choose to forgo their safe harbor protections.

What happened in Florida in 2000 made clear that this is too little time in a contested election. That contested presidential result is often thought of as a story about the Supreme Court, but a key factor in the court’s decision was limited time. On Dec. 12 that year, the justices ordered an end to recounting in Florida and effectively awarded the election to George W. Bush, the majority concluding a recount that treated all ballots equally could not be completed before the electors met, just six days later.

Had there been more time, that argument would not have held sway, the recount could have continued — and the country would have had far more confidence about who won.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>

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