There has long been conflict in the United States over who gets to vote and how. In the years since Barack Obama’s election as president, those voting debates have become increasingly partisan, with Republican elected officials often pushing measures like requiring photo IDs that make it harder for people to vote, and Democratic officials advancing provisions like same-day registration that make it easier to vote.
That long-running conflict over voting has reached a new, more critical phase for two reasons. First, the outbreak of COVID-19 means that people might be risking their health if they opt to vote in person. Secondly, Donald Trump, unlike previous presidents, regularly breaks with democratic norms and values and is now openly suggesting that he might manipulate the electoral system to help him win a second term.
“Trump aides exploring executive actions to curb voting by mail,” was the headline of an article in Politico last weekend (that was a news article, not an opinion piece). Politico’s reporting found that the White House was considering using executive actions to insert itself into the election process, which is usually run by states, including finding ways to make it harder for people to vote by mail. Continue reading.
Senate Republicans are suddenly ramping up their efforts to dig into the origins of the probe of President Trump’s 2016 campaign. Two committees are launching investigations that essentially ask whether there was an effort at the highest levels of the Obama administration or the FBI to undermine Trump.
President Trump initially said he might withhold federal funding for Michigan and Nevada if the states moved forward in expanding vote by mail, though he later backed off that threat.