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The Georgia elections Tuesday were characterized as “catastrophe.” A new $104 million voting system broke down, many voters couldn’t vote as a result of a ballot shortage, and those who could ended up waiting hours in line to exercise their right to vote. ‍ Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has called for an investigation, but leading advocates for systemic reform say what happened underscores the need for change, including accessible vote-by-mail ballots. “How many democracy deba

Baltimore is a one-party city, so much so that it hasn't had a Republican mayor since 1967. Registered Democrats vastly outnumber any other party registration, having a tenfold advantage over the Republican Party. It's as blue as a city could get. The consequence of this is November elections are inconsequential. The winner of the closed Democratic mayoral primary, for instance, might as well be sworn in the next day, and he or she can win with a marginal share of the total registered voting po

This article first appeared on The Fulcrum. DeVore, a Republican state legislator in California from 2004 through 2010, is vice president for national initiatives at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank. With the coronavirus still infecting and killing people, particularly the old and infirm, there have been increasing calls to move America to an all-mail-in ballot for this November's election. This campaign is being advanced through legislation — the economi

In the midst of social turmoil and civil unrest, on top of an ongoing pandemic, the news didn’t spare much time to talk about 9 primary elections held Tuesday -- primaries that, according to vote at home advocates, prove absentee ballots work. Four states -- Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island -- postponed their primary elections to June 2 to allow voters an extended opportunity to request absentee ballots, while DC, Iowa, Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota largely increased th

Many Mainers, for the first time, have been confronted with what it means to have their right to vote threatened. It’s a deeply unsettling feeling. Which is why editorial boards across the state, including, on April 5, the Maine Sunday Telegram, have called for steps to be taken to ensure broad voter participation and safety. As Gov. Mills has declared: “A person’s right to vote is the foundation of our democracy, and I take seriously government’s responsibility to ensure that every Maine perso

This article was first published on The Fulcrum The GOP has sued to prevent the effort to conduct the November election almost entirely by mail in the nation's most populous state as a way to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The lawsuit, filed Sunday in federal court, says Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom exceeded his authority this month by telling county election officials to send all 20.7 million registered Californians a ballot this fall. His order would potentially double the number of A

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act of 2020 (H.R. 748) was by far the most gargantuan emergency economic stimulus package ever passed by Congress. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, addressing the 2008 Financial Crisis and the ensuing Great Recession, was "only" $787 billion at the time of passage. (That number later crept up-- as Washington outlays are wont to do-- to $831 billion.) By contrast, the CARES Act passed as a staggering $2 trillion

The one silver lining pro-voter reformers see in the midst of these unprecedented and troubling times is that voters are now even more aware of the weaknesses in the US political and electoral process, and they want change. Most states with in-person voting scheduled in April were forced to postpone their primaries or elections until the early summer. Meanwhile, the one state that didn’t cancel its in-person voting, Wisconsin, has now reported at least 19 new coronavirus cases as a result. W

Attacks have been made from both the right and the left about the viability of vote at home systems and their potential to advantage one party over the other. In the midst of a global pandemic that continues to threaten our democratic processes, there is an immediate need to assuage these concerns. A timely study from Stanford University’s Democracy and Polarization Lab demonstrates vote-by-mail has a neutral partisan impact when it comes to turnout and vote share. The report is the most up-to-

Originally published on The Fulcrum. Enactment of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 remains a celebrated landmark in American history. It's time to celebrate the law's potential anew by making some big changes in how state legislatures are elected. My home state of Virginia illustrates the merits of doing so. First, a quick refresher course: The law enacted 55 years ago put an end to literacy tests, poll taxes and a host of other discriminatory practices that had kept minority voters from gaining