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Video: John Oliver Does What Donald Trump Cannot by Telling the Truth About Vote-by-Mail
It isn't hard to tell the truth and when it comes to vote-by-mail, no-excuse absentee, and early voting, President Trump should give it a try. What is difficult is being funny while telling the truth about public policy and John Oliver does that brilliantly.
Found in: Common Cause
Associated Press: House race drags on after vote-counting board walks out
“What you can see is our electorate is more engaged than it has been in a primary for decades,” said Heather Ferguson, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico. “They’ve had some time for life to slow down. ... They were watching more news, getting more input about this election. They got fired up and wanted to vote.” At the same time, Ferguson said Common Cause is taking stock of whether participation was hindered by the state’s timetable for initiating absentee ballot applications and lengthy delivery times in remote regions.
Found in: Common Cause
PBS News Hour: Mail-in voting amid pandemic and protests previews challenges for November election
“I am trying to see today as an opportunity to show the cracks in the system that we can fix before November,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for voting rights group Common Cause. Albert said there is concern that in the November election, people who request absentee ballots will not receive them, and there will be fewer polling places as counties consolidate them in response to the pandemic. “There needs to be a rational level of consolidation that ensures that communities who especially have not used vote by mail in the past or cannot use vote by mail — such as disabled communities or people without addresses, homeless, transient — that there are enough polling locations to serve those people,” Albert said.
Found in: Common Cause
Reuters: Confusion, long lines at some poll sites as eight U.S. states vote during coronavirus pandemic
“The big story out of Pennsylvania is really voter confusion,” said Suzanne Almeida, interim director of government watchdog Common Cause Pennsylvania. ... In Indiana, voting rights groups said they heard from many people who reported they never received the absentee mail ballots they had requested. “That certainly contributed to long lines in Marion County,” said Julia Vaughn, policy director for Common Cause Indiana. Marion County, which includes Indianapolis, consolidated its polling places and had only 22 open on Tuesday.
Found in: Common Cause
Washington Post: Some voters in 8 statewide primaries and D.C. face confusion today about where to vote, long lines and poor social distancing
“The big story is really voter confusion,” said Suzanne Almeida, who leads Common Cause Pennsylvania, on a call with reporters. ... In Philadelphia, a small scattering of polling locations opened late because of missing poll books or other minor issues that happen most years, Almeida said. In one predominantly African American area of Pittsburgh, voters complained of feeling intimidated by having to cast ballots in a polling location that also houses a police department during a time of tension between black residents and law enforcement.
Found in: Common Cause
New York Times: Pandemic, Protests and Police: An Election Like No Other
“We are seeing and feeling the effects of the police response to the protests over the last few days,” said Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania. She cited the city convention center, where 18 polling locations had been condensed into one, as having a significant presence of National Guard troops, “which is obviously a deterrent to voters.”
Found in: Common Cause
Associated Press: Indiana’s virus-delayed primary may mean lines, slow tallies
Julia Vaughn, policy director for the government accountability group Common Cause Indiana said voters faced navigating a variety of deadlines for main-in balloting that a great number had never faced before. “We expect the majority of votes to be cast by mail but we’re not a vote-by-mail state, so we’ve had to make this up as we go along,” Vaughn said.
Found in: Common Cause
The Fulcrum (Op-Ed): In time for the second Super Tuesday, lessons from the first vote-by-mail state
This presidential election year, Americans need solutions so they don't have to choose between protecting their health and exercising their right to vote. On Tuesday morning polls will open for primaries in eight states and Washington, D.C., and election officials are making final preparations to keep voters and election workers safe. Contests in four of those states were postponed during the coronavirus pandemic, which is why the day is being labeled as another Super Tuesday. And so this is an important moment for a closer look at states that already vote by mail. My home state of Oregon is ranked first: 99 percent of us voted from home in the 2018 midterm election, more than any other state.
Found in: Common Cause
PennLive/The Patriot News: An Election Day like never before: Mail-in balloting, new voting machines, multi-day counts for Pa.'s primary
“We know that there are going to be issues on June 2nd,” said Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director of Common Cause PA, citing instances in which county offices have sent out duplicate mail-in ballots, or even the wrong political party’s primary ballot; the massive consolidation of polling places in places like Philadelphia; and the use of new machines in many places. “The way that we’re looking at this is really that we we will have a lot of clarity after June 2nd about what needs to be fixed for November," Almeida said. "And we’re hoping we can come up with some really clear, practical solutions... to make sure that no voter is disenfranchised in November.”
Found in: Common Cause
Washington Post: Mail-in ballot delays in Maryland threaten statewide primary, activists say
Joanne Antoine, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said the state was doing its best to accommodate Baltimore in an unprecedented situation. “It’s just unfortunate that it’s always these areas that are hit the most,” she said.