[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/26/20

Wed Mar 25 20:11:56 PDT 2020

“Coronavirus In Pennsylvania: Lawmakers Vote To Postpone Primary Election To June”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110233>
Posted on March 25, 2020 8:10 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110233> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP:<https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/03/25/pennsylvania-primary-election-postponed/>

Pennsylvania lawmakers voted Wednesday to delay the state’s primary election by five weeks to June 2, potentially past the spike of the state’s spreading coronavirus cases.

The measure passed both chambers of the Republican-controlled state Legislature on Wednesday and Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said he will sign it.

As a result, Pennsylvania will join more than 10 states in delaying primaries.

It comes just a few months after Wolf and lawmakers approved legislation giving every voter the ability to mail in a ballot.

Under the bill, Pennsylvania would hold its primary election June 2, instead of April 28, when the state could be in the thick of a surge of COVID-19 cases.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“Senate stimulus package includes $400 million to help run elections amid the pandemic”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110231>
Posted on March 25, 2020 8:02 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110231> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-stimulus-package-includes-400-million-to-help-run-elections-amid-the-pandemic/2020/03/25/4d0db91e-6ebe-11ea-b148-e4ce3fbd85b5_story.html>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110231&title=%E2%80%9CSenate%20stimulus%20package%20includes%20%24400%20million%20to%20help%20run%20elections%20amid%20the%20pandemic%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Watch Archived Talk with Tova Wang of Harvard’s Ash Center on My Book Election Meltdown, and Voting in the Era of the Virus<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110229>
Posted on March 25, 2020 7:45 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110229> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here on You Tube:<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pqhnwkvRHU&feature=youtu.be>
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Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>

“The Constitutional Case for State Power to Eliminate Faithless Electors”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110227>
Posted on March 25, 2020 10:22 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110227> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Tyler Creighton<https://www.bu.edu/bulawreview/files/2020/03/CREIGHTON-final-1.pdf> in the Boston University Law Review.
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Posted in electoral college<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>

Reminder: I’m Doing a Live Event at 12 PM Eastern Today with Tova Wang of the Harvard Ash Center Talking About My Book, Election Meltdown, and the Current Covid Crisis<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110225>
Posted on March 25, 2020 8:28 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110225> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Watch Via Zoom.<https://ash.harvard.edu/event/book-talk-richard-hasen-author-election-meltdown?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=HarvardAsh&utm_content=Book%20talk%20with%20Richard%20Hasen,%20author%20of%20%22Election%20Meltdown%22>
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Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>

“Coronavirus response includes $400 million in election assistance. Will it be enough?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110223>
Posted on March 25, 2020 8:05 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110223> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Roll Call<https://www.rollcall.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-response-includes-400-million-in-election-assistance-will-it-be-enough/>:

A sweeping federal spending package responding to the new coronavirus pandemic will include millions to help states administer elections, but some fear it will not be enough to prevent chaos in November.

The enormous spending bill expected to be released Wednesday morning will include $400 million in election assistance, according to two sources who have seen a summary of the bill from appropriators. That figure is still a fraction of the $2 billion the Brennan Center for Justice estimated is necessary<https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/estimated-costs-covid-19-election-resiliency-measures> for states to prepare for a surge of voters casting ballots by mail and to ensure safe in-person voting….

Election officials are already scrambling to adjust to the pandemic, postponing primaries and stressing absentee voting options so voters can avoid polling places. To curb the spread of the virus, public health officials have recommended gatherings not exceed 10 people….

ven without a federal mandate, election officials are still expecting a surge in voters requesting to mail in their ballots in November. Officials are also in need of additional resources, such as cleaning supplies to disinfect polling places. And they are expecting a shortage of poll workers. Those workers tend to be senior citizens, who appear to be more vulnerable to life-threatening illness from the virus.

“What we know now is that [election administrators] are going to be looking at increased vote-by-mail, probably in every jurisdiction in the country,” said Hovland. “And with that increase, and additional steps to make sure that voting in the polling place can also be safe for voters … there are going to be these additional unanticipated costs.”

Wendy Weiser, director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Democracy Program at New York University’s law school, said Tuesday that a few hundred million dollars from Congress would be “woefully inadequate” to cover those costs.
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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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