Marc Elias, Hillary Clinton’s former campaign attorney, is hoping to use the coronavirus pandemic to push major changes to the way Americans vote in U.S. elections, proposing mail-in voting, ballot harvesting, “vote-anywhere” rules, and curbside voting.
Elias, the 2016 Clinton campaign attorney and “election expert” who, through his law firm Perkins Coie, “retained Fusion GPS to conduct the firm’s anti-Trump work on behalf of both Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the DNC,” has, in many ways, spearheaded the progressive push for changes to U.S. voting methods. Attempting to use the coronavirus pandemic as a catalyst, Elias over the weekend outlined a list of changes he believes the U.S. needs to make to “fix” voting rules ahead of November’s elections:
My 5 rules for states to protect Voting In Person
👍Provide adequate staffing @ the polls
🚗Expand curbside voting to ALL ages
✔️Allow early voting on weekends
🗳Adopt vote-anywhere rules
⏰Create systems for voters to vote @ non-peak times to reduce lines https://t.co/6vilo1ZpiK— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) April 5, 2020
“The uncertainties caused by COVID-19 have led a number of states to examine and adjust the rules for the November elections. Thus far, most of the planning has focused on how states will handle the predicted demand for voting by mail,” Elias wrote in a piece for The Atlantic.
“There is no question that voting by mail is an important part of the solution. It mitigates the problems of long lines and fosters social distancing. But the specific rules used to implement vote by mail may determine whose vote is counted and whose is not,” he continued, listing four mail-in voting “safeguards,” including free or prepaid postage and the ability of “community organizations” to “help collect and deliver voted, sealed ballots.” – READ MORE
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