Marcia McCoy drops her ballot into a box outside the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Cleveland, Ohio, Tuesday. The first major test of an almost completely vote-by-mail election during a pandemic is unfolding in Ohio, offering lessons to other states about how to conduct one of the most basic acts of democracy amid a health crisis.
Tony Dejak/AP Photo
Tony Dejak/AP Photo
Marcia McCoy drops her ballot into a box outside the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Cleveland, Ohio, Tuesday. The first major test of an almost completely vote-by-mail election during a pandemic is unfolding in Ohio, offering lessons to other states about how to conduct one of the most basic acts of democracy amid a health crisis.
Tony Dejak/AP Photo
Marcia McCoy drops her ballot into a box outside the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Cleveland, Ohio, Tuesday. The first major test of an almost completely vote-by-mail election during a pandemic is unfolding in Ohio, offering lessons to other states about how to conduct one of the most basic acts of democracy amid a health crisis. (Tony Dejak/AP Photo)
Ohio’s all-mail primary is being closely watched by election officials across the country who are weighing how to handle the general election in November, when public health experts warn coronavirus cases could reemerge after a summer hiatus.
The Buckeye State’s nominating contest was yesterday, but it will be a few days before anyone knows whether Secretary of State Frank LaRose was justified in his boast that Ohio successfully shifted to vote-by-mail in a matter of weeks instead of the years it took other states.
In-person voting still happens in vote-by-mail states, but it’s extremely limited. In Ohio, officials allowed more leeway because slow mail delivery might’ve prevented voters from receiving their ballots before Monday’s return deadline. Mail delays, fair election advocates say, probably translated into low turnout, as voters who never received ballots opted against in-person voting to avoid any risk of coronavirus exposure.
In Pennsylvania, voting rights groups raise that very issue in a lawsuit filed in state court late Monday. Read my story about it and access the case documents.
The lawyers bringing the case suggested Pennsylvanians could face what voters experienced in Wisconsin, where officials encouraged mailed ballots but many voters wound up voting in-person, overwhelming the smaller number of voting centers in big cities like Milwaukee.
A commonality among the situations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and elsewhere is the challenge elections officials are facing when it comes to obtaining personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, etc.).
Just over a month away from Pa’s primary, many counties say they fear they won’t have enough PPE to ensure safe, in-person voting on June 2, even with a million dollars worth of PPE stockpiled by the state specifically for the election. Read my story here.
Stay tuned to The Context and PA Post for more voting coverage expected later this week:
Several think tanks are collaborating on a report detailing what states need to do to prepare for a presidential election amid a pandemic, and Pennsylvania’s one of four states they used to illustrate their points. They plan to release their recommendations Thursday.
Also Thursday, Pa. election officials and national experts will testify before a state legislative panel about preparations to run the primary during a pandemic.
And we’ll be monitoring telephonic proceedings that day in the lawsuit over the ExpressVote XL, a voting that’s set to be used in Philadelphia and Cumberland counties. It’s also the machine picked by Northampton County, where the XL had a disastrous debut last November. Another lawsuit filed over the device machine in federal court awaits a ruling.
U.S. Air Force photo/Maj. Brian Wagner
The U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron “Thunderbirds” and the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron “Blue Angels” fly over Philadelphia, Pa. during an #AmericaStrong flyover, April 28, 2020. The demonstration teams conducted flyovers in areas of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to honor healthcare workers, first responders, and other essential personnel who are working on the front lines to combat COVID-19. (U.S. Air Force photo/Maj. Brian Wagner)
The U.S. Air Force and Navy honored frontline health care workers with a fighter jet flyover on Tuesday. The joint, high-speed flyover by the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds was meant “to give Americans a touching display of American resolve that honors those serving on the front line of our fight with COVID-19,” according to U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. John Caldwell, Thunderbird 1 and mission commander. The event is one of multiple planned across the country during the next couple weeks, NBC Philadelphia reports.
To help offset the economic pain caused by coronavirus shutdowns, the federal government added $600 to unemployment compensation payments — a way to inject more cash into a free-falling economy. WHYY’s Miles Bryan teamed up with PA Post’s Ed Mahon to look at employers’ complaints that the unemployment payments were so high that many workers were not willing to return to work when some employers tried to reopen. But reality is more complicated: An employee’s decision not to return to work can depend on many factors, including availability of PPE, caregiver duties, and concerns about a loved one’s vulnerability to the virus.
The Pa. Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the lower courts of Pennsylvania to, essentially, do more work and afford better public access to proceedings during the pandemic. That can be achieved by utilizing technology and implementing precautions such as social distancing, Tuesday’s ruling explained. “While stating that the health of court employees and litigants remains a top priority, the high court said steps must be taken to allow people to observe what is happening in local courtrooms,” writes The Morning Call’s Laurie Mason Schroeder.
Pa. school districts are bracing for a billion-dollar fallout from the coronavirus, according to state school board association projections reported by the Associated Press. Meanwhile, families stare down the possibility that classes won’t resume this fall, PennLive reports.
A Beaver County inpatient rehab center’s alleged medical experimentation on clients prompted a lawsuit against the state Department of Health. The case claims Brighton Rehab got away with testing experimental COVID-19 treatments on patients because state health officials haven’t inspected long-term care facilities during the coronavirus outbreak. The daughter of a Brighton patient is the lead plaintiff on the lawsuit, the Beaver County Times reports.
Pennsylvania’s Board of Pardons has stopped considering commutations indefinitely due to the pandemic. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman told reporters: “It’s not fair to try to conduct this over Zoom.” Fetterman also says it’s risky to transfer prisoners, given increased probability of exposing inmates and corrections officers alike to the coronavirus. But advocates argue “commutation remains one of the few viable paths to release for Pennsylvania’s 5,000-plus lifers, some of whom are elderly and medically vulnerable,” Elizabeth Hardison writes for the Pennylvania Capital-Star.
Pennsylvania has received nearly $3 billion in federal stimulus funds in recent weeks. Another $2 billion is expected. How officials use that money will greatly impact the state government’s 2020-21 budget — and lawmakers have wasted no time getting creative with which expenses might count as pandemic-related and thus qualify for coverage under the CARES Act, LNP’s Gillian McGoldrick reports.
Some Pennsylvania farmers have fared well (better, even) during the pandemic; others have suffered losses. For better or worse, the impact is pretty universal and several factors are at play. They include shifts in how people shop for food due to social distancing and health concerns, as well as eating habits now that they’re spending more time at home, among others, WITF’s Rachel McDevitt reports.
Say that again? The Inquirer’s Michael Klein reports on a bill in the Pa. legislature that would allow bars and restaurants to sell cocktails to go during the coronavirus shutdown. The proposal “defines a mixed drink as a sealed container of no greater than 64 ounces. A lid with sipping holes or opening for straws must be capped with an additional seal. Sales must be completed by 11 p.m.,” Klein writes. Bottoms up!
Coronavirus must reads:
Post-Gazette: COVID-19 testing lags in Pennsylvania as federal government promises help
NPR: The coronavirus has killed more Americans than the Vietnam War
ProPublica: Health Insurers to Investors: We’re Good. Health Insurers to Lawmakers: Please Help.
Washington Post: Will summer kill coronavirus? Cities fear heat waves will quickly become deadly.
Undark: COVID-19 has boosted gun sales and heightened risks associated with owning firearms
The Atlantic: No Testing, No Treatment, No Herd Immunity, No Easy Way Out
Levity
The New Yorker: Quarantine Missed Connections
The Oatmeal: Before and After Quarantine
SNL: Whiskers R We
