[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/17/20

[Rick Hasen]

A Huge Mess in Ohio: Governor Orders Polling Places Closed For Tuesday’s Primary After Court Denies Order to Reschedule Election<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110036>
Posted on March 16, 2020 9:10 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110036> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico:<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/16/ohio-governor-recommends-postponing-tuesdays-primary-132340>

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said late Monday the state’s health department will order all polling places not to open for Tuesday’s primary elections to protect voters and poll workers from the coronavirus outbreak.

“During this time when we face an unprecedented public health crisis, to conduct an election tomorrow would force poll workers and voters to place themselves at an unacceptable health risk of contracting coronavirus,” DeWine said in a statement.

DeWine’s announcement came after a judge denied a last-minute attempt to postpone the election until later this year. It also raised questions about whether voters will be able to participate in the still-scheduled primary with polling places shuttered, though DeWine, a Republican, said the secretary of state would petition the courts “to extend voting options.”

“While the polls will be closed tomorrow, Secretary of State Frank LaRose will seek a remedy through the courts to extend voting options so that every voter who wants to vote will be granted that opportunity,” he said.

DeWine’s unprecedented order — closing physical polling places because an attempt to postpone the election failed — perplexed even seasoned experts in election law.

“What I find most confusing is whether the governor is purporting to call off the election or not,” said Rick Hasen, an election law professor at the University of California-Irvine. “Saying one is closing polling places is not the same as postponing the election.”

Earlier Monday, a judge in Columbus denied a late push by DeWine, LaRose and voters to delay Tuesday’s primary amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Seems like the governor should get the legislature on an emergency basis to reschedule the primary election. It should never have gotten to this point with this confusion.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


Brennan Center: “How to Protect the 2020 Vote from the Coronavirus”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110034>
Posted on March 16, 2020 8:59 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110034> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Memo <https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2020-03/Coronavirus%20Response%20Memo.pdf> with recommendations<https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/how-protect-2020-vote-coronavirus>:

The key recommendations fall into five categories: (1) polling place modification and preparation; (2) expanded early voting; (3) a universal vote-by-mail option; (4) voter registration modification and preparation, including expanded online registration; and (5) voter education and manipulation prevention. We recommend that each state government establish an election pandemic task force to determine how best to implement relevant policy recommendations in their state. State and local officials must understand the laws and emergency rules<https://www.nass.org/sites/default/files/Election%20Cybersecurity/report-NASS-emergency-preparedness-elections-apr2017.pdf> applicable to their jurisdictions and consider appropriate adjustments to ensure that election officials have the authority needed to accomplish these modifications. For its part, Congress should immediately appropriate funds to ensure that election officials have the resources needed to make the needed adjustments to their voting systems. Congress should also establish baseline national rules to ensure that every eligible American can vote safely, securely, and accessibly in the midst of the pandemic. In the absence of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, care must be taken to ensure that changes are nondiscriminatory and do not negatively impact access for communities of color.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“The virus means we’ll be voting by mail. But that won’t be easy.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110032>
Posted on March 16, 2020 8:55 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110032> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Marc Elias WaPo oped.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/16/virus-means-well-be-voting-by-mail-that-wont-be-easy/>
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


Vote-by-mail and voter-registration<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110028>
Posted on March 16, 2020 1:44 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110028> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

In normal times, I think of absentee voting as an essential option, but I’ve not (yet?) bought into 100% vote-by-mail. The postal service is an astonishingly great institution, but there are some communities it serves less well than others, including large-scale-apartment dwellers and rural Native reservations; it can lead to limitations for those who want both privacy and language or disability assistance; and it can increase opportunities for coercion. That’s not a critique of the absentee process — just a recognition of its limitations.

These are not normal times. And in the age of a global pandemic transmitted through crowds and disproportionately impacting elderly pollworkers, it is 100% right to be moving — with legal authorization quickly, to give as much time to prepare as possible — to radically expand opportunities for voters to receive and cast ballots by mail.

But as we do, it’s worth remembering that voting by mail puts more pressure on voter registration.

When voting at the polls, it’s often possible to fix small registration problems, or local moves to a new address. (Indeed, the NVRA guarantees a right to the latter.) And in same-day registration states, someone who is unregistered can use a trip to the polls to get registered, too.

But voting by mail makes it really important to get registration names and current addresses right, up front. Otherwise, it’s hard to get your mail ballot in the first place.

None of this is news to people who work full-time on Vote by Mail issues, like the world-class team at Vote at Home<https://www.voteathome.org/>. But for others scrambling to expand vote by mail options in an emergency: voter registration needs to come along as well, with substantial spending on extra publicity encouraging voters to check and update their registration before the ballots go out.

In other words:
[cid:image002.jpg at 01D5FBD7.95B0CCB0]<https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_>
<https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_>
Justin Levitt<https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_>
✔@_justinlevitt_<https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_>

 · 7h<https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_/status/1239645470554599425>
<https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_/status/1239645470554599425>

Replying to @_justinlevitt_<https://twitter.com/_/status/1239645187409711104>

It was _always_ good hygiene to check your voter registration 60 days before an election. In a vote-by-mail context, particularly with emergency application, that good voting hygiene becomes critical.
[cid:image002.jpg at 01D5FBD7.95B0CCB0]<https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_>
<https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_>
Justin Levitt<https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_>
✔@_justinlevitt_<https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_>


So think of it this way:

Practice social distancing.
Wash your hands for 20 seconds. #StayTheFHome<https://twitter.com/hashtag/StayTheFHome?src=hash>.

And triple-check your voter registration.
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54<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1239645800289857536>
1:12 PM - Mar 16, 2020<https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_/status/1239645800289857536>
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28 people are talking about this<https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_/status/1239645800289857536>

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Posted in absentee ballots<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, voter registration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>


“Coronavirus: Ohio Primary delayed until June 2 if court agrees”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110026>
Posted on March 16, 2020 1:10 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110026> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The latest <https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200316/coronavirus-ohio-primary-delayed-until-june-2-if-court-agrees> from Ohio.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Delaying Wisconsin’s April 7 presidential primary amid coronavirus pandemic would be difficult”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110024>
Posted on March 16, 2020 1:09 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110024> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Patrick Marley<https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/16/coronavirus-wisconsin-delaying-presidential-primary-not-easy/5058563002/> for Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


--
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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