The Clock Is Ticking On Shifting Voting Practices For General 2020 Election

Politico: Pandemic Threatens Monster Turnout In November
Time is running out to allow millions of Americans to vote this fall without fear of contracting the novel coronavirus. Mail voting — the voting method that best preserves social distancing — is infrequently used in many states, and those that don’t have extensive mail voting might be unable to implement systems before November. And while 33 states, including most 2020 presidential battlegrounds, already allow any voter to cast a ballot by mail who wants to, a number of those states aren’t prepared to handle the crush of mailed-in ballots that could be coming their way in November. (Montellaro, 3/31)

Politico: Pelosi: Mail-In Voting Will Protect ‘Integrity Of The Election System’ Amid Coronavirus
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday suggested vote-by-mail capabilities should be scaled up ahead of 2020’s remaining elections, shielding Americans from the threats in-person voting could pose amid the coronavirus pandemic. “In terms of the elections, I think that we’ll probably be moving to vote by mail,” Pelosi told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” adding that congressional Democrats had pushed to allocate increased funding in the recent $2 trillion relief package “to get those resources to the states to facilitate the reality of life: that we are going to have to have more vote by mail.” (Forgey, 3/31)

The Hill: The Memo: Political World Grapples With Long Coronavirus Shutdown
Americans are coming to grips with the fact that there will be no quick end to the coronavirus crisis — a realization that will shake up the 2020 presidential race in profound ways. President Trump has sought to shift expectations in recent days, acknowledging that the de facto shutdown of the nation’s economy will last longer than he had originally hoped and that the death toll will likely climb far higher. (Stanage, 3/31)

The Washington Post: Joe Biden Raises Doubts About Whether Democrats Will Hold Convention In July, Saying ‘It’s Hard To Envision That’
Joe Biden raised significant doubts about whether the Democratic National Convention will be held as planned in July, with the likely nominee suggesting that the party’s major gathering slated for Milwaukee may need to be altered or postponed. When asked whether he could envision holding the convention in July, given the coronovirus outbreak and concerns about large gatherings, Biden said, “It’s hard to envision that.” (Viser, 4/1)

Reuters: With 2020 Race All But Halted Over Coronavirus, Biden Quietly Widens Lead Over Trump: Reuters/Ipsos Poll
Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden has quietly expanded his lead over President Donald Trump among registered voters, even as the rapidly spreading coronavirus has all but sidelined the former vice president’s campaign, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday. The poll conducted on Monday and Tuesday of more than 1,100 American adults found that 46% of registered voters said they would support Biden if he were running against Trump in the Nov. 3 election, while 40% said they would vote for Trump. That advantage of 6 percentage points was up from a 1-point lead for Biden recorded in a similar poll that ran from March 6 to 9. (Kahn, 3/31)

The New York Times: Who Are The Voters Behind Trump’s Higher Approval Rating?
Justin Penn, a Pittsburgh voter who calls himself politically independent, favored Joseph R. Biden Jr. in a matchup with President Trump until recently. But the president’s performance during the coronavirus outbreak has Mr. Penn reconsidering. “I think he’s handled it pretty well,” he said of the president, whose daily White House appearances Mr. Penn catches on Facebook after returning from his job as a bank security guard. “I think he’s tried to keep people calm,” he said. “I know some people don’t think he’s taking it seriously, but I think he’s doing the best with the information he had.” (Gabriel and Lerer, 3/31)

Politico: Poll: Trump's Coronavirus Bounce Fizzles
More voters say the Trump administration isn’t doing enough to combat the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. The survey, conducted immediately before President Donald Trump announced a 30-day extension of his physical and social distancing guidelines “to slow the spread” of Covid-19, shows 47 percent of voters feel the administration isn’t doing enough in response to the outbreak, greater than the 40 percent who feel the administration is doing the right amount. (Shepard, 4/1)

NBC News: Trump Sees Ghosts Of Hometown Past And Election Future In COVID-19
If he had done nothing at all, President Donald Trump said Tuesday, the American death toll from the coronavirus would be geometrically higher than the low six-figure count he now expects. In other words, it could have been worse. Looking like he'd been visited by the ghosts of hometown past and election future, Trump deviated from his typically ebullient, brash and optimistic style to deliver a somber message much more in line with that of his leading scientists. (Allen, 3/31)

Politico: Coronavirus Crashes The Wisconsin Primary
The coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc on Wisconsin’s upcoming statewide election, one of the only presidential primaries still scheduled in April. The state is facing a huge shortage in poll workers ahead of Tuesday’s vote. Local elections officials may have to close and consolidate precincts to manage the situation, and some are warning of steep drops in turnout. State officials are urging voters to request absentee ballots so they don’t have to vote in person, but there isn’t the time or resources, or the appetite among state legislators, to just send ballots or even ballot request forms to all voters, the plan adopted by some states postponing their elections. (Montellaro, 3/31)