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Coronavirus is generating a surge of interest in voting by mail in the 2020 presidential election. It's not a panacea

Anthony Man

March 29, 2020 |

Tampa Bay Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Florida

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased interest in and use of alternative voting methods in Florida. Among Democrats in the 2020 primary, where most of the primary action took place, voting by mail was up 33% from 2016 and early voting at regional sites was up 20%, while in-person voting on primary day was down about 25%. Offering voting alternatives is not a panacea, there are some drawbacks including a greater percentage of rejected ballots among certain demographic groups, however it can help ease concerns among voters about voting in person during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Voting by Mail Would Reduce Coronavirus Transmission but It Has Other Risks

Jessica Huseman

March 24, 2020 |

ProPublica |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

As the COVID19 pandemic continues, officials are looking ahead to the United States’ presidential election in November and considering mail-in ballots. While it is a limited-contact way of voting, it presents massive challenges in terms of scaling. Things like infrastructure, cost, and voter privacy and fraud have to be considered, which is why states are turning to those who have had some success already, like Minnesota and Montana, to learn from.

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Maryland can save its election by letting people vote at home

Eric Cortellessa

March 20, 2020 |

The Washington Post |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Utah

Utah is an example of how states can smoothly transition to universal vote-by-mail elections during the Covid-19 pandemic. Utah moved in stages by first allowing all registered voters to vote-by-mail for any reason, followed by inviting counties to opt in to universal voting by mail once they were ready. Administrators found it easier and cheaper, voters found it more convenient, and turnout increased 5 percentage points in counties that had switched. Details like whether to include return postage on ballots have to be worked out, but four states have transitioned to universal absentee voting with success.

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1.2 million subscribers: How Reddit's coronavirus community became a destination

Olivia Solon April Glaser

March 18, 2020 |

NBC News |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

A group of researchers of infectious diseases, virologists, computer scientists, doctors, and nurses have taken to moderating a community coronavirus message board on Reddit to help spread awareness and decrease information around the pandemic. From fact-checking to alerting of breaking news, these volunteers are helping to more efficiently get valid information to those in the online community, while incentivizing the sharing of valuable information via the platform's system of upvotes.

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Elections amid coronavirus: How officials aim to keep voters safe

Alfred Ng

March 17, 2020 |

CNET |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Many are looking to in-person voting alternatives already used on smaller scales to address the challenges of holding an election during the Covid-19 pandemic. Online or mobile app voting is allowed on a limited basis in several states. Voatz is a mobile voting app that has been used in 50 elections since 2016, with more than 80,000 votes cast. The company uses blockchain to encrypt the data and has offered to discuss the free use of its software for the 2020 presidential election. Experts caution the possibility of cyber-attacks as well as the difficulty of widely implementing new technologies so quickly.

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Bridging the red and blue divide one conversation at a time

Karen Peterson

March 17, 2020 |

Valley Journal |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Montana

Many groups have formed to reduce political polarization by applying active listening and respectful communication skills. Mission Valley Rises is a small community led group in Montana that hosts events where Republicans and Democrats come together and outline community issues and brainstorm effective responses. Better Angels is a national group that holds citizen-led workshops where, using marriage counseling techniques, people are taught, not to change their own beliefs, but how to respectfully disagree so they can work together to effectively solve common problems.

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How to Save Elections From a Pandemic

Eric Cortellessa

March 16, 2020 |

Washington Monthly |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Salt Lake City, Utah

The coronavirus pandemic swept the nation at a time when many would be going to polling stations to cast their votes in primary elections, but vote-at-home practices are providing a solution for this civic inconvenience. Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and now Utah have all implemented statewide all-mail election campaigns that not only improve voter turnout, but also cost less to taxpayers than only relying on in-person polling booths.

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Advocates, teachers aim to help growing number of young Texas voters wield their power

Vicky Camarillo

March 11, 2020 |

Corpus Christi Caller Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Texas

Organizations and educators in Texas work to increase voter engagement among young people. Schools must provide voter registrations, but many don't, so some teachers register students and teach the importance of civic participation. Several groups also work to get high school and college-age voters to the polls. MOVE Texas and Texas Rising registered thousands of young voters on National Voter Registration Day in 2019. Utilizing technology, going to where young people are, and teaching media literacy increased civic engagement among young people in 2018, although the turnout was still relatively low at 25%.

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Map the Vote app finds unregistered voters in cities and helps get them to the polls

Katherine Rapin

March 11, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Texas

Register2Vote (R2V) identified unregistered voters in Texas and built a platform for them to fill out the form online, which R2V printed and mailed to them with a stamped envelope addressed to their county’s registrar’s office. 112,000 of the 156,000 new voters they registered voted in 2018. R2V later created Map the Vote, a nationwide crowdsourced app that maps where unregistered voters live. It also provides tools to help organizations, or even neighbors, register new voters, including scripts that people can use to start a conversation about registering to vote and respond to common voting concerns.

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How organizations, lawsuits are fighting voter suppression in Texas

John C. Moritz

March 05, 2020 |

Corpus Christi Caller Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Texas

Civil rights groups used a lawsuit and a vigilant network of activists to defeat an attempt to purge qualified voters from the list of Texas' eligible voters and to guard against ongoing attempts to disenfranchise naturalized citizens and other people of color. In 2019, the Texas Secretary of State's office compiled a list of what it said were as many as 100,000 illegally registered voters. Countering claims of fraud and threats of prosecution, activists forced the state to abandon the effort and oust the secretary of state. A study shows at least 17 million names have been cut from voter lists nationwide.

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