The Verge: VoteByMail makes it easier to request a mail-in ballot ahead of the election. “Registering to vote by mail can be a tricky process that varies depending on the state you reside in. You’ll often need to find the right website, the right form, fill in the correct info, and find the right election official to submit the paperwork. VoteByMail streamlines the process by finding your local election official, assembling some basic information needed to request a ballot, and sending the whole thing off for you. You should still check with your local board of elections if you do not receive a mail-in ballot, to ensure you can vote when election season arrives.”
2020 elections
CNN: Facebook bans ads from pro-Trump PAC
CNN: Facebook bans ads from pro-Trump PAC. “Facebook announced Thursday it was banning ads from The Committee to Defend the President, a pro-Trump super PAC. Facebook did not say how long the ban would last.”
Lawfare Blog: Announcing a New Series on Healthy Elections
Lawfare Blog: Announcing a New Series on Healthy Elections. “The Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project aims to assist election officials and the public as the nation confronts the challenges that the coronavirus pandemic poses for election administration. Through research, tool development, and direct services to jurisdictions, the project focuses on confronting the logistical challenges faced by states as they make rapid transitions to mail balloting and the creation of safe polling places.”
Reuters: Local U.S. election officials fight disinformation ‘virus’, whether from overseas or Trump
Reuters: Local U.S. election officials fight disinformation ‘virus’, whether from overseas or Trump. “On a recent Zoom call, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the state’s top election official, ran through slides showing altered Facebook photographs, misleading tweets from the last presidential election and photographs of Russian hackers.”
HuffPost: Donald Trump’s Campaign Is Pretending There’s No Pandemic
HuffPost: Donald Trump’s Campaign Is Pretending There’s No Pandemic. “President Donald Trump’s campaign advertising is focused largely on issues that are of minimal concern to the American electorate, a HuffPost analysis of campaign ad spending data found, airing zero ads about the coronavirus pandemic in the month of July.”
CNN: Notre Dame withdraws from hosting first presidential debate due to coronavirus
CNN: Notre Dame withdraws from hosting first presidential debate due to coronavirus. “The University of Notre Dame announced Monday it will withdraw from hosting the first presidential debate in September due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. The debate, scheduled for September 29, will now take place at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.”
NBC News: Governors who took the virus seriously from the start get a boost
NBC News: Governors who took the virus seriously from the start get a boost. “Our new NBC News/Marist polls of Arizona and North Carolina tell a pretty similar story — President Trump trails in both battlegrounds, as does the incumbent GOP senator. But there’s a significant difference between the two polls: North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper holds a 59 percent approval rating among voters in his state, while Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has a 39 percent rating in his state.”
CNET: Facebook posts from Trump, Biden get new voting information label
CNET: Facebook posts from Trump, Biden get new voting information label. “Facebook’s new voting information label appeared on posts this week from both President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. While the label may appear similar to fact-checks on other social networks, the Facebook notice doesn’t necessarily mean the posts contain misinformation.” Well that won’t be confusing at all.
CBS News: Virus outbreak reshapes presidential race in Sun Belt — CBS News Battleground Tracker poll
CBS News: Virus outbreak reshapes presidential race in Sun Belt — CBS News Battleground Tracker poll. “The coronavirus outbreak is reshaping the presidential race in three key Sun Belt states. Joe Biden is now leading President Trump by six points in Florida, and the two are tied in Arizona and competitive in Texas, where Biden is down by just a point to Mr. Trump. Biden has made gains in part because most say their state’s efforts to contain the virus are going badly — and the more concerned voters are about risks from the outbreak, the more likely they are to support Biden.”
Washington Post: Trump and Biden campaigns shift focus to coronavirus as pandemic surges
Washington Post: Trump and Biden campaigns shift focus to coronavirus as pandemic surges. “The Trump and Biden presidential campaigns now see the coronavirus response as the preeminent force shaping the results of November’s election, prompting both camps to try to refocus their campaigns more heavily on the pandemic, according to officials and advisers of both campaigns.”
Reuters: Biden blasts Trump as U.S. coronavirus cases top 2 million
Reuters: Biden blasts Trump as U.S. coronavirus cases top 2 million. “With the number of U.S. coronavirus cases now topping 2 million, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Thursday blasted anew President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic, saying Trump ‘still refuses to take the virus seriously.'”
Vanity Fair: Hackers Are Already Screwing With the 2020 Election
Vanity Fair: Hackers Are Already Screwing With the 2020 Election. “The vulnerabilities of online voting underscore the broader concerns about this year’s election. Observers already warned that Russia, which meddled in the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf, and other bad actors are seeking to interfere with this cycle.”
AP News: Trump eyes older voters in Florida for any sign of faltering
AP News: Trump eyes older voters in Florida for any sign of faltering. “President Donald Trump’s path to reelection runs through places like Sun City Center, a former cow pasture south of Tampa, Florida, that’s now home to a booming retirement community. But some residents in this conservative swath of America’s premier battleground are growing restless. Irvin Hilts is among them. The 72-year-old retiree voted for Trump in 2016 but has grown frustrated with the tumult surrounding his administration. His support for Trump collapsed entirely amid the coronavirus pandemic, which Hilts blames the president for mishandling.”
CNET: Reddit is publicly tracking all political ads on its site ahead of 2020 election
CNET: Reddit is publicly tracking all political ads on its site ahead of 2020 election. “Reddit is updating its political ad policies in an attempt to increase transparency ahead of the 2020 election. All political ad campaigns running on Reddit will now be publicly tracked in a subreddit, r/RedditPoliticalAds, and include information like spending and impressions, the company said Monday.”
Poynter: Will COVID-19 change the way we vote come November?
Poynter: Will COVID-19 change the way we vote come November?. ” The coronavirus pandemic has forced more than a half dozen states to delay their Democratic primaries, with more states likely to follow. This has raised an urgent question: Could the pandemic still be dangerous enough in November that the general election will have to be held mostly or entirely by mail?”
