[EL] (no subject)

[Pildes, Rick]

Now that I'm back online, a short comment re the discussion of Pres. Trump's statements about absentee voting: I agree there is no point guessing what he means or has in mind.  But the primary issue for this fall is absentee voting, not true vote-by-mail (or "universal mail-in voting").  At least 29 states will permit no-excuse absentee voting this fall (more might be added through legislation, litigation, or executive action).  This includes nearly all the potential swing states.  By contrast, only a couple states that did not already use full VBM are moving to it this fall; even so, that brings the number up only to 7 states, none of which are going to get much attention because they are not swing states.

So absentee voting is the "mail-in" option that matters most for the fall, by far.  For those of us who support this, the smart reaction, in my view, to the repeated endorsement of absentee voting -- several times now by the President and the Vice President -- is to lock down this commitment as much as possible.  I'd like to see journalists confirming again and again with the President, the VP, and other political leaders that they support absentee voting.  I'd like to see stories that highlight the President and VP's commitment to absentee voting.

I think that's far more productive and meaningful for public understand and the fall election than the instinctive impulse to attack Trump, such as by making the issue whether there's any significant  difference between absentee voting and full VBM - the right issue to focus on is that we now have strong endorsements of absentee voting from the top of both parties.


Best,
Rick

Richard H. Pildes
Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law
NYU School of Law
40 Washington Square So.
NYC, NY 10014
212 998-6377

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