Voting in a Pandemic

Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, joins David and Sarah to discuss ...

By

Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, joins David and Sarah to discuss how you pull off an election during a pandemic. Rachel makes the case for why states need to start thinking about how coronavirus may impact November now, and expand absentee voting and drive-thru voting.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Create a free account
Access additional articles and newsletters for no cost, no credit card information needed. Continue ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
By
Comments (27)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. DieHardTrojan

    Very disappointed in this podcast. Major Omissions. While bashing the NC ballot harvesting, the team seemed to forget the more glaring successful example of ballot harvesting. Orange County CA where the democrats applauded the act and boasted the success of turning a traditional red county/district. Also they forgot to discuss the cases (emphasis plural) of the magical missing ballots discovered after an election. Amazing how all these "discovered" ballots always swing an election and always go one way. I am not a tin foil hat kind of guy. I tend to avoid the adage "why attribute to coincidence when a perfectly good conspiracy theory is available." Back to emphasis on plural.

    I really feel they should have addressed these issues. Otherwise the podcast came off as "Don't worry, be Happy." AKA embrace the suck.

    Collapse
  2. Avatar photo
    Robert

    Jimmy Carter led a commission looking into this idea awhile ago, and found it subject to fraud. The WSJ has more. https://www.wsj.com/articles/heed-jimmy-carter-on-the-danger-of-mail-in-voting-11586557667

    Collapse
  3. Avatar photo
    BrandonAlleman

    'Low information' voters does not accurately describe the voters who don't vote in person who would by mail. There are countless factors that keep people from voting in person none of which purify the vote by omission. As an Oregonian, I think vote by mail is great and should be national for all elections and look at most arguments against no matter how nuanced with skepticism.

    Collapse
    1. Nathan Shiba

      How do they verify mail-in votes in Oregon?

      Collapse
  4. Avatar photo
    Kevin Johnson

    This was very useful. I see the voting issue differently now. Thanks much. I admire David for looking at big picture and looking ahead for potential problems down the road. I remain dumbfounded, though, at the repeated fights against things I don’t see anyone important (at least off Twitter) fighting for. Here David raises interesting facts about the advantages many of us have to stay home and keep earning, as opposed to countless workers who don’t have that option. But then he warns against disaster when these workers are sent into danger. Even the clown in chief repeatedly stresses he will take advice from Fauci and Birx before changing his recommendations. Fauci and others talk about, at some point, letting some places open but preserving social distancing. Who is advocating ignoring risks and just letting workers get sick? Are you saying nothing can change until there is zero risk? This follows earlier hyping of the idea Trump was planning a constitutional crisis by ordering governors to open up without having the power to do so. Trump says many stupid things, but when did he signal a plan to do what you warned against? I am genuinely puzzled about this, not being polemical. I can only conclude that you are responding to twitter extremists I don’t see. Saying we should prepare for some opening of the economy, as some European countries are doing now, may be wrong or premature, but is is really the same as simply sending workers to die? Thanks much for all your analysis in any case. You and Sarah make me smarter.

    Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    Patrick Roy

    How do states vary on the process of registering people to vote and requesting an absentee ballot? Nebraska has an online portal to register to vote and the election commissioners have sent an absentee ballot request form to every registered voter in the state (postage required however).

    Collapse
  6. Avatar photo
    Sad Trombone

    I found Ms. Kleinfeld's pooh-poohing of vote fraud very unconvincing. We frequently hear of precincts in Philadelphia where voter turnout exceeded 100% of the registered voters, for example. Now her organization's assault on the secret ballot is the analog of the unions' drive for card check - a way to allow intimidation of the vulnerable by thugs and zealots. Even Ms. Kleinfeld concedes problems at nursing homes - how about SEIU home health aides, comandantes in every public housing project, Bernie Bros in every college dorm? For a low information voter to actively choose not to vote and thereby cancel out my well considered vote is an affirmative choice, and should be respected.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Jonathan M

      I found her to be rational and very well versed in the facts and the policy. You found her "pooh-poohing" of *potential* for voter fraud unconvincing, then you make a claim like -
      "We frequently hear of precincts in Philadelphia where voter turnout exceeded 100% of the registered voters, for example." without a source.

      Can you explain what you mean by "her organizations assault"? You really seem to be relying on facts not in evidence here.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Sad Trombone

        Off the top of my head I can think of a half dozen Congressional races that were more likely than not effected by vote fraud., going back to B-1 Bob Dornan losing to Loretta Sanchez in Orange County CA by 400 votes. As for the Philadelphia case, they are easy to find, here's a link:
        https://www.commentarymagazine.com/jonathan-tobin-2/philly-voter-fraud-allegations-race-voter-id/

        Collapse
        1. Avatar photo
          Jonathan M

          Ok, she won by over 900 votes, and the Republican majority voter fraud task force at the time could not substantiate the claims - not could a grand jury. The Philly claim, is even more complicated by the fact that 100% of registered voters of 192 with something like 199 voters. Mind you there are over 1700 voter divisions.. so.. yeah clear cut fraud. Oddly, one of the possible fraud claims was that a poll worker colluded to commit fraud…

          So wouldn't a bar coded mail in ballot system, that uses software to compare signatures, be more secure? Such a system would likely resolve both of your examples.

          Collapse
          1. Avatar photo
            Sad Trombone

            The California Republican Party shut down Dornan's investigation that showed substantial fraud in just a few hours, because they didn't want to be seen as anti-Hispanic by picking on illegal aliens voting.
            As for mail in ballots, you are still denying people the privacy of the voting booth, which is the primary objective of activists.

            Collapse
    2. Avatar photo
      Peter A

      Plus a big part of any crime is opportunity. Once mail-in becomes the majority of voting, then opportunity goes up as well as the value of the fraud. Innovation comes with opportunity and incentive. Just like hackers create viruses for the most popular OS, the most popular method of voting is where fraud efforts will focus.

      Collapse
  7. Nathan Shiba

    "China is the most highly trusted country by its citizens of any country and has been for a long time. You can say the Chinese people are misguided or what have you, but they trust their government by and large to do the right thing and we don't."

    A really interesting statement. I'd love to know the data source.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Peter A

      Where was the pushback on this statement? Did they include uyghurs in that poll? Really calls into question all of her assertions.

      Collapse
      1. Nathan Shiba

        I don't know if it calls all her assertions into question, but her stream of consciousness on "high trust societies", authoritarian governments, the Weimar Republic, and guilt at having purchased a new freezer into which her family could store excess green chile provides context and perhaps a small bit of insight into her opinions about vote by mail.

        Collapse
  8. Avatar photo
    Pastorfbt

    Well. That was cheerful. Sheesh. Seriously, a great discussion. Here in MA we have a D legislature and a R governor (except he'd be a D anywhere else). I'm sure there's going to be accommodations in the voting process but we have to fight over it as a matter of local pride.

    Collapse
  9. Melissa

    Thanks for the fantastic analysis!

    Collapse
  10. Victoria Ferauge

    Excellent discussion and was delighted to hear Ms. Kleinfeld mention overseas voters. These are military AND civilian voters like me. We are Americans voters who must mail in our ballots because, hey, how else can we participate in a US election from Thailand, Mexico, France or the UK?
    The roughly 8 million American civilians living abroad have the right to vote in US federal elections and all states are REQUIRED to have a system in place for us. We can register through our state or we can fill out a Federal Post Card Application. We can even request a federal write in ballot if the state screws up and we don't get our ballot on time. More on the system here https://www.fvap.gov/citizen-voter/overview.

    Collapse
Load More