[EL] State-level continuity of governance-

[David Segal]

Thanks, Rob.

Another issue related to elections that came to mind after a conversation I
had yesterday is ballot access. Still lots of states out there where people
are supposed to be collecting signatures to get on the ballot at various
points over the course of the spring. Not sure if there are any alternative
methodologies for this out there anywhere, or if anybody's even thought
deeply about alternatives. (To move to them would require state lawmakers
to be able to function.)



On Sun, Mar 15, 2020 at 12:29 PM Rob Richie <rr at fairvote.org> wrote:

> I am surprised by the silence on David's very reasonable query.
>
> AEI's Norm Onstein has addressed the issue of continuity of governance
> with important thinking and reports for years. He had this piece in the
> Atlantic
> <https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/congress-needs-contingency-plan-right-now/607933/>a
> couple days addressing this issue through the lens of Congress. It
> includes: "There is no plan in place for Congress to hold remote meetings
> or otherwise conduct its business if it becomes impossible for its members
> to meet together, face to face in the Capitol or at another site in the
> District of Columbia. And that needs to change, right now."
>
> I'm wondering if anyone might know what other nations are doing with this
> challenge as well.
>
> Rob
>
>
> Rob
>
> On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 10:34 PM David Segal <david at demandprogress.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Two NY lawmakers just tested positive. This is all about to spiral.
>>
>> https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/nyregion/coronavirus-ny.html
>>
>> On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 8:39 PM David Segal <david at demandprogress.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi, everybody-
>>>
>>> One thing I'm trying to sound the alarm about:
>>>
>>> Many, or perhaps most, state legislatures have no contingencies in place
>>> to allow for things like remote voting by lawmakers.
>>>
>>> This could be disastrous, as it will be harder and harder to get quorums
>>> to meet in person. And such meetings will be necessary to pass things like
>>> budgets -- *and changes to voting laws to help make sure that elections
>>> take place at scale and with integrity. *
>>>
>>> I'd urge anybody who has contacts with state officials to raise this
>>> issue with them ASAP so they can seek to make changes to their own
>>> procedures to allow for continuity of governance. It's disconcerting, but
>>> not shocking, that there's been almost no thought put into this here in RI.
>>>
>>> (This is also a concern for Congress, but I know they are at least
>>> thinking about it now.)
>>>
>>> -David
>>>
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>
>
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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