Trump’s Rhetoric On Mail-In Voting Resonating With Base Despite Lack Of Evidence For Fraud
President Donald Trump has made five dozen false claims about mail balloting since April, as officials in various states began contemplating the need for expanded use of the option amid the pandemic. A new poll suggests widespread support for mail-in voting but also hints that Trump's messaging on fraud is getting through to his base. Meanwhile, Americans are going to have to come to terms with delayed election results.
The New York Times:
Trump’s False Attacks On Voting By Mail Stir Broad Concern
President Trump is stepping up his attacks on the integrity of the election system, sowing doubts about the November vote at a time when the pandemic has upended normal balloting and as polls show former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. ahead by large margins. (Haberman, Dorasaniti and Qiu, 6/24)
AP:
Mail-In Ballots Thrust Postal Service Into Presidential Race
The U.S. Postal Service’s famous motto — “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers” — is being tested like never before, by challenges that go well beyond the weather. ... Results were delayed this week in Kentucky and New York as both states were overwhelmed by huge increases in mail ballots. (Weissert, 6/25)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Georgia Lawmakers Move To Ban Mass Absentee Ballot Solicitations
A Georgia House committee voted Wednesday to prohibit election officials from mailing absentee ballot request forms to voters, as Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger did before this month’s primary election to encourage voting from home. The legislation would prevent the kind of large-scale absentee voting effort undertaken during the coronavirus pandemic, when Raffensperger sent absentee ballot applications to 6.9 million Georgia voters. (Niesse, 6/24)
AP:
Election Results Are Delayed Again. Get Used To It.
Kentucky and New York had primaries Tuesday, but the winners of the closest races probably won’t be known until next week. What’s going on? Get used to it. Slow vote counts and delayed results are a feature of elections during the pandemic and are likely to continue into the general election in November, when many election officials say that, absent a landslide, it won’t be clear who won the presidential election for several days. (Riccardi and Ohlemacher, 6/25)
The Washington Post:
Black And Gay Candidates Tap The Energy Of Racial Justice Protests And Push For Equality In Bid For Electoral Breakthroughs
Young black and gay candidates were heading for electoral breakthroughs this week, turning the public clamor for racial justice and equality into likely primary upsets in New York, Kentucky and Virginia. Those results have revealed a resurgent left, which has pivoted from defeat in the Democratic presidential primary to a focus on down-ballot races. In safe blue seats, and in places where the party has tended to nominate moderates, a coalition of white liberals and nonwhite voters is transferring energy from the past month’s protest movements into challenges of the party’s establishment. (Weigel and Kane, 6/24)
