CDC Releases Guidance Encouraging Voters To Seek Alternatives To Casting In-Person Ballot During Pandemic
The guidance was quietly issued on June 22, The Washington Post reports. One such alternative -- expanding the use of mail-in ballots -- has become a politically divisive issue with President Donald Trump adamantly against such efforts, despite the health risks of in-person voting. In other elections news: experts worry about November; candidates must shake up campaigning; and Massachusetts allows all residents to vote by mail.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that voters consider alternatives to casting their ballots in person during upcoming elections, as states expand absentee and early voting options for November amid fears of spreading the coronavirus. The guidance was issued with little fanfare on June 22 and suggested that state and local election officials take steps to minimize crowds at voting locations, including offering 鈥渁lternative voting methods.鈥 President Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that one popular alternative 鈥 mail-in ballots 鈥 promotes widespread voter fraud. (Ye Hee Lee, 7/7)
After a presidential primary season plagued by long lines, confusion over mail-in voting and malfunctioning equipment, election experts are increasingly concerned about the resiliency of American democracy in the face of a global pandemic. With four months until the presidential election, the litany of unresolved issues could block some voters from casting ballots and lead many citizens to distrust the outcome of one of the most pivotal races of their lifetimes. (Vasilogambros, 7/8)
Politicians trying to campaign during the coronavirus pandemic are confronting the risks of courting voters in person and relying on newer, less-proven online operations that are fit for social distancing. The coronavirus lockdown forced campaigns online at an accelerated clip this spring, resulting in a flood of live-streamed candidate meet-and-greets, fundraisers via videoconference and virtual volunteer training sessions by Republicans and Democrats alike. (Glazer and Jamerson, 7/6)
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill on Monday allowing all registered voters in the Bay State to vote by mail in the primary and general elections this fall if they choose, his office confirmed to CNN. The new law means Massachusetts joins other states -- including Michigan, Nevada, California, New Hampshire and Wisconsin -- in moving to make it easier for more people to vote by mail as coronavirus infection numbers climb and states are forced to look ahead to the November election. (Ehrlich, 7/7)
In news from Joe Biden's campaign 鈥
Joe Biden is promising to shift production of medical equipment and other key pandemic-fighting products 鈥渂ack to U.S. soil,鈥 creating jobs and bolstering a domestic supply chain he says has been exposed as inadequate and vulnerable by the coronavirus outbreak. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee鈥檚 campaign released a plan Tuesday to reinforce stockpiles of a 鈥渞ange of critical products on which the U.S. is dangerously dependent on foreign suppliers鈥 in places like China and Russia. (Weissert, 7/7)
US Democratic challenger Joe Biden has said he will reverse President Donald Trump's move to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) "on day one" if he wins November's election. (7/8)
With the November election fewer than four months away and the number of coronavirus cases again surging in the United States, former vice president Joe Biden is preparing for a range of realities when it comes to dealing with the virus if he is elected president, according to an official. "I would say the vice president and the team are working through multiple scenarios. One of those scenarios would involve the existence of a vaccine, in which case, one of the biggest tasks would be the broad-based manufacture and equitable distribution of that vaccine which is an enormous logistical challenge," the official said on a call Tuesday morning. (Nagle and Verhovek, 7/7)
