Originally published on The Fulcrum.
All Kentuckians will get the chance to vote by mail in the June 23 primary under a deal worked out between Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, and Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican.
The switch is an attempt to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Kentucky is now the 10th state that normally strictly limits mail-in voting, but will make it nearly universal during the pandemic.
The Honorable David M. Walker joins T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to discuss the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus.
Mr. Walker served as the former Comptroller General of the United States and the former CEO of the United States Government Accountability Office under Presidents William Jefferson Clinton and George W. Bush. He currently serves as the Admiral William Crowe Chair Distinguished Visiting Professor in Economics of the Defense Industrial Base at the United States Naval Academy.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain on the US electoral process. However, the candidates hit hardest are third party and independent presidential and statewide candidates who face increasingly insurmountable signature gathering requirements to make the November ballot.
However, a federal judge in Illinois has ruled that since the pandemic poses a “nearly insurmountable hurdle” for third party candidates, the Libertarian and Green nominees for president and US Senate will automatically be added to the 2020 Illinois ballot.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act of 2020 (H.R. 748) was by far the most gargantuan emergency economic stimulus package ever passed by Congress.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, addressing the 2008 Financial Crisis and the ensuing Great Recession, was "only" $787 billion at the time of passage.
(That number later crept up-- as Washington outlays are wont to do-- to $831 billion.)
Originally published on California Globe.
On Wednesday, Governor Gavin Newsom confirmed that the state currently has no plans to reopen the state or end stay-at-home restrictions as the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to spread in California.
The one silver lining pro-voter reformers see in the midst of these unprecedented and troubling times is that voters are now even more aware of the weaknesses in the US political and electoral process, and they want change.
When it comes to changing the rules for gathering signatures to get on the ballot during the coronavirus crisis, some states have been more lenient than others.
In Massachusetts, a state court has loosened signature requirements for politicians this year, given the national health concerns. But a federal court in Arizona did not consider doing the same for ballot measure campaigns.
This story was originally published on The Conversation, and later re-published on The Fulcrum.
Attacks have been made from both the right and the left about the viability of vote at home systems and their potential to advantage one party over the other. In the midst of a global pandemic that continues to threaten our democratic processes, there is an immediate need to assuage these concerns.
Fake news is popping up everywhere, deep fakes are going viral, and conspiracy theories flood social media feeds. Americans want reliable sources to turn for information, but they aren't sure what sources they can trust. Meanwhile, data collection companies are profiting off people's data and the political parties are using that data to manipulate voters.