Voting From Home: How COVID-19 is Changing The Vote

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🗓️ 3 July 2020

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

In some states, primary voting during COVID-19 has been off to a rocky start. Long lines and crowds at the polls aren’t great for social distancing. And as cases continue to spike across the US, some states are looking to expand their ‘vote by mail’ options ahead of November. We’ll break down what voting for president could look like in a global pandemic and what experts say election officials and lawmakers should start doing now to prepare us. Also: ahead of the fourth of July, some lawmakers are pushing to add a 51st state to the union. We’ll explain the (long) history of Washington DC’s quest for statehood and why it’s coming up again. And finally, the new documentary “(In)Visible Portraits” has been described as “a love letter to Black women, from Black women.” We sat down with the filmmaker to discuss how she’s looking to reveal history you may not have learned about in school. On this episode, you’ll hear from: Myrna Pérez, Director, Voting Rights & Elections Program, Brennan Center for Justice Oge Egbuonu, director of “(In)Visible Portraits” Let us know what questions you have about what’s going on in the news right now. Email us at audio@theskimm.com or call and leave us a voicemail at: 646-461-6370. You might hear your message on the show. If you want to add theSkimm to your daily routine, sign-up for our free newsletter the Daily Skimm. It’s everything you need to know to start your day, right in your inbox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In Wisconsin today thousands waiting for hours forced to choose between protecting their
0:05.6	own health and exercising their right to vote.
0:08.7	Those lines are long in Wisconsin despite the state's safer at home order.
0:12.4	This is so wrong.
0:13.4	This is so wrong.
0:14.4	This election should have been called.
0:17.6	On Tuesday, April 7th, voters in Wisconsin cast their ballots in the 2020 presidential
0:22.6	primary.
0:23.8	Keep in mind, this was just a few weeks into the mass shutdowns across the country.
0:29.0	Wisconsin's primary was a huge test of what it means to vote during a pandemic.
0:34.1	It was marked by PPE and hand sanitizer, but also fewer than usual poll workers, long
0:39.5	lines, and fear.
0:41.6	Because there wasn't enough testing, contact tracing, and information.
0:44.8	It's not clear whether that primary caused a surge in COVID-19 cases.
0:50.4	But it did cause a surge in something else.
0:53.2	This primary, more than 60 percent of Wisconsin voters did so by mail, which is a huge increase.
1:00.3	Wisconsin voting officials say historically only about 6 percent of votes cast in Wisconsin
1:05.4	are cast by mail.
1:07.4	This pandemic has led to increased support not just in Wisconsin, but across the country
1:12.4	for voting by mail.
1:13.5	In fact, according to a recent poll from Pew Research Center, 70 percent of Americans say
1:19.4	everyone should get to do this.
	...

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