Author: Melonie

Nearly 119,000 Chicagoans have applied to mail in their ballots in November, setting a new city record four months ahead of the general election amid a national debate over the vote-by-mail system that pits arguments for safety during the pandemic against warnings of electoral fraud. The 118,836 Chicago voters who have already applied for mail-in […]

Gov. Ron DeSantis came up small and short in responding to Florida’s looming voting crisis. In this state where coronavirus infections are mounting, a November election like no other is now about four months away. The stakes couldn’t be more serious, yet our governor seems to be sleepwalking toward calamity while county supervisors are left […]

The Bennington town clerk’s office has seen an spike in requests for absentee ballots, with an approximate 500% increase from regular years. “Generally, for a state primary, depending on if it’s a presidential year or a midterm year, total turnout can be between 800 and 2,000; absentees are usually three or four hundred,” said Town […]

With the coronavirus shutdown compelling Texans to stay at home, new voter registrations were down nearly 30% for the first six months of 2020 compared with a similar period in the last presidential election year, according to an American-Statesman analysis of state figures. Register to vote now The data suggest that a return to shutdown […]

The South Carolina State Elections Commission has agreed to provide prepaid return postage for all absentee ballots by mail this November. The joint agreement, filed in federal court Wednesday, follows a lawsuit by individual voters and multiple Democratic party groups earlier this year over voting access and safety in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. […]

A union is taking North Carolina’s voting laws to court over absentee ballots before the November elections. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Friday asking the courts to stop the state from requiring a witness’s signature for mail-in absentee ballots Until recently, two witness signatures were required. This changed when a bipartisan elections […]

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A judge rejected Friday a motion that that would have immediately made it easier for Missourians to vote with a mail-in ballot during the coronavirus pandemic. The Jefferson City News-Tribune reports Cole County Judge Jon Beetem denied the motion for a preliminary injunction sought by the Missouri NAACP and the League […]

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) joined Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and a group of their colleagues to urge the State Department to take action to ensure that Americans overseas can vote during the coronavirus pandemic. The senators point out that travel and mail operations remain disrupted in many […]

Velia Salinas keeps busy. She hasn’t had a 9-to-5 job in decades, but during the coronavirus pandemic, she has been sewing cloth face masks for “anyone who wants them” and taking care of her three dogs, two cats, and two birds. “I enjoy them,” she said. “And they’re spoiled. I came to the kitchen to […]

THE CENTERS for Disease Control and Prevention advised voters last month that they should seek alternatives to casting ballots in person this November, becoming just one more in a parade of health and voting experts warning about the risks of treating the coming presidential election like a normal one. The warnings are as much for […]