The coronavirus pandemic, which has led most states to shut down almost all aspects of social and economic life, is also raising questions about what life will look like by the time the general election rolls around in November.
The public got a preview of what voting in the age of the coronavirus looks like during the Wisconsin primary election. Only five of the city's 180 polling places were open.
Analysis by the Blue York Crimes after Wisconsin's election this month did find that the RAT judicial candidate benefited significantly from mail-in voting.
With the mandatory closure of schools and businesses nationwide because of fears about spreading the coronavirus, universal access to voting by mail-in ballot has become a mainstream issue.
"Voters have already been forced to choose between their health and casting their ballot," said Sean Eldridge, the founder and president of progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, in a conference call with reporters last week. "We must prepare our voting systems both for the upcoming primaries and the general elections this fall."
Alaska, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Ohio and Wyoming each canceled their in-person primaries in favor of allowing all residents to vote by mail.
Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland and Pennsylvania are allowing any voter to send in an absentee ballot.
Although red states and blue states have taken measures to expand vote-by-mail, there is hardly bipartisan consensus on the issue.
Five states currently conduct elections almost entirely by vote-by-mail: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Utah is a reliably Republican state, and Oregon and Washington both have Republican secretaries of state.
The pandemic PANIC is an extenuating factor for some Republicans, important enough to make vote-by-mail a more viable option for some.
Maryland's GOP governor, Larry Hogan, urged voters to cast absentee ballots due to concerns about the virus, and Republican Governor Chris Sununu, of New Hampshire, announced that voters would be allowed to cite the virus as an excuse to cast a mail-in ballot in November.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, both Republicans, appeared in a video encouraging citizens to vote by mail.
Stand Up America and Fair Fight Action were among several advocacy groups that sent an open letter to Congress earlier this month asking for lawmakers to include $4 billion in "election assistance funding" in the next coronavirus relief package.
Marc Elias, the chairman of Perkins Coie's Political Law Group, represents the RAT National Committee and the RAT Party of Wisconsin.
Elias told See-BS News that Congress had the authority to fundamentally change how the country votes in federal elections.
Elias told See-BS News that Congress could implement mandatory voter registration and require that every voter receive an absentee ballot.
Nattering Nancy Pelosi and Swinish Schumer told reporters on Tuesday that they want to include election assistance in the next coronavirus relief package.
RATS Fat Amy Klobuchar and Ron Wyden have sponsored a bill to require every state to make its citizens to vote by mail, and to expand early voting.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vote-by-mail-gains-traction-coronavirus-pandemic/