Progressives Every Day: Oh wait, voting by mail is good?
Progressives Every Day: Oh wait, voting by mail is good?
Florida is still screwing up
Welcome to a rainy Tuesday edition of Progressives Everywhere!
I’ll make this a quick one because I sent out two newsletters last night and don’t want to demand so much of your time. Obama’s endorsements were too important not to share because they are designed to be powerful fundraising pitches and I wanted to make sure people who might give to or otherwise support our candidates knew that lots of them received the Obama stamp of approval. So, thank you for bearing with me on that.
I assume you have all seen clips from Trump’s zombie deer-in-headlights interview with Axios on HBO? Here’s the whole thing, in case you want to either delight in his failure or mourn the people who will likely due to it.
OK, without further ado…
Elections (and Future Elections) and Voting Rights
We will kick off the newsletter with another presidential tweet. As we’ve noted, Trump’s public war on mail-in voting has led to Republicans demuring from requesting ballots, thereby giving Democrats a massive lead in very important swing states like Florida and North Carolina.
Seems like maybe someone got through to Trump and let him know he was sabotaging himself and the rest of his party. Because he can’t ever admit a mistake, though, he put up this lie-soaked tweet:
Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True. Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail! #MAGAIn Florida, Democrats have a nearly 600,000-voter lead in absentee ballot applications. Republicans have been freaking out; both Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio have publicly stated that Trump is wrong about voter fraud in mail-in voting in the state and the Florida GOP is running doctored photos of Trump’s tweets on the subject.
In North Carolina, Democrats have requested mail-in ballots at eight times their 2016 rate; Republicans are at less than three times their rate. The GOP has surged over the last week, but we need to see that sustained over time to call it a trend. This graph says it all:
A number of states have their primary elections tonight, including Michigan, Arizona, and Kansas (big GOP senate primary!). I’ll let you know if there are any big surprises in the newsletter tomorrow night — if you want an incredibly detailed preview, check out Primaries for Progress’s two-parter from earlier today.
Now that Trump is officially cutting the census short by a month, officials in both parties are beginning to freak out. Reducing the response time is supposed to hurt Democrats, as recent immigrants and people of color have historically taken longer to count.
The rural population that tends to lean to the right also faces a severe undercounting, but it’s clear that minorities (and cities) are the real target here. Right now, a whopping 37% of people who received a census form have not sent it back, which is a remarkably troubling number. I suppose the one saving grace is that the suburbs are trending bluer and bluer, which might blunt the advantage that Republicans would traditionally get out of this.
COVID-19 and Related Drama
Mississippi is the latest state to enact a mask requirement, despite the fact that the state’s governor, Tate Reeves, vehemently hates the idea. Thankfully, the man can still prioritize.
"I know that I want to see college football in the fall," Reeves told reporters. "The best way for that to occur is for us all to recognize that wearing a mask — as irritating as it can be, and I promise you I hate it more than anybody watching today — it is critical."
Hey, whatever it takes!
Florida, on the other hand, is still controlled by one of the most ignorant people alive.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued a mask order once again that has the far-right Republicans in his state super pissed off. Read this excerpt from a letter one GOP lawmaker sent to his pro-mask constituent:
Further, the Governor’s latest order is not aligned with recent data, science, CDC guidance, commonsense reason, nor on the most fundamental constitutional rights of all Wisconsin residents.
Each individual, business owner, and municipality is capable of deciding how best to protect themselves, their employees, their customers, and constituents. Whether continued social distancing, frequent hand-washing, or other voluntary safety measures, each individual can determine which guidelines satisfy the safety needs of their operations. A top-down, heavy-handed, one-size-fits-all state mandate is illegal, unconstitutional, and imprudent given the vast difference between regions of the state.
I have already called on my colleagues in the legislature to convene an Extraordinary Session and act immediately to block this unlawful order!
I can’t speak to Wisconsin law, except that the Supreme Court there is controlled by Republicans but has occasionally offered some surprising decisions over the last few months. What I can say, however, is that the idea that rural districts are less threatened by COVID than more urban ones.
Yes, at first, the pandemic was hitting urban areas hardest — I’m a New Yorker, March and April were absolutely terrifying. But over time, it’s become a true threat to rural areas, as well.
Rural areas may end up being among the hardest hit regions due to their demographics and lack of resources.
The 15 percent of people in the United States who live in rural areas are largely a higher-risk population that’s particularly vulnerable to serious outcomes with COVID-19.
In addition, many people in rural areas live 30 or more miles away from the nearest hospital.
The biggest threat in New York right now, in fact, is mass eviction.
Wait, before you go!
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