Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Saturday, June 13th, 2020

‘We’re going to have a catastrophe’: US faces November election fiasco

Author:     Sam Levine
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Fri 12 Jun 2020 07.00 EDT
 Link: ‘We’re going to have a catastrophe’: US faces November election fiasco
Stephan:   We are in the middle of a kind of slow-motion coup. The Senate and House Republicans have realized that in a fair election Trump will lose, as would many of them. So what to do? Why rig the election of course. Suppress the vote, make it hard to vote, stop mail-in voting where possible. American democracy is reeling. I'd say it is a toss-up now as to whether the Republicans will succeed in what they are attempting.
Voters in Georgia’s primary election this week struggled with long lines, new equipment and social distancing. Credit: MohammadJavad Jahangir/Rex/Shutterstock

The alarm bells have been going off for months, but the election fiasco in Georgia on Tuesday made it clear: America is ill-prepared to hold a fair presidential vote in November, and is dangerously close to having an election disaster. 

The Georgia contest offered the most alarming preview to date of what could happen in November without major overhauls, training and planning. Voters stood in line to vote for upwards of four hours, saying they never received mail-in ballots requested weeks ago. Local officials, forced to consolidate polling locations because of Covid-19, were unable to manage the influx of voters and struggled to operate new voting equipment. 

Experts worry that poll worker shortages, long lines and other delays in processing requests for absentee ballots will only get worse in November, when there will be more voters. Since March, voting advocates have been calling on states to prepare for an election like no other, and quickly implement plans that accommodate a surge in voters […]

Read the Full Article