Welcome to Talking Feds, a round table that brings together prominent former federal officials

and special guests for a dynamic discussion of the most important legal topics of the day.

I'm Harry Littman. The coronavirus poses a grave threat to the integrity and security of the

November presidential election. We saw a possible harbinger this weekend with constant where there was

the latest royal mess. In the words of the National Task Force on Election crises,

we cannot allow November's general election to follow Wisconsin's example. Last minute chaotic

decision making and failures in emergency planning are threatening the basic goal of a free and

fair primary election, even as local election officials are working through unprecedented challenges.

Like drinking and driving, the virus and elections don't mix. But unlike drinking and driving,

they have to. Our civic life depends especially on an orderly presidential election and one that

leaves no doubt as to legitimacy. As it turns out, an eminent nonpartisan group of national leaders

have been focused on risks to the election since even before the virus, and their work has taken

on new urgency and focus now that the virus has taken hold of our daily life. And that is the

aforementioned National Task Force on Election crises, which was launched last year with the

mission statement of ensuring a free and fair 2020 presidential election by recommending responses

to a range of potential election crises. And those threats have now virtually all coalesced

into one in the public consciousness, the virus. So the task force comprises 47 prominent members from

diverse fields such as election law, national security, civil rights, and public health,

and three of the most prominent members are with us today to discuss the range of threats that

hang over the November election and the recommendations that the entire task force has endorsed.

They are Jim Baker, the Director of National Security and Cybersecurity at the R Street Institute,

a public policy research organization. Jim is also a former federal prosecutor, and from 2014

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