Voting in 2020: Values and Policies during a Pandemic Name:______Teaching with the News Online Resource 1 Research in Greater Depth: Voting Rights and Security
Instructions: Read the following news article excerpts and poll data and complete the “Source Analysis” handout. Excerpts of News Articles Source 1 NPR: “Voting And Elections Divide Republicans And Democrats Like Little Else. Here’s Why” by Philip Ewing, June 12, 2020
Republicans and Democrats seldom agree on Even so, Trump and McEnany both voted by much in 21st century politics—but one issue that mail this year in Florida, and Republican officials divides them more than ever may be voting and across the country have encouraged voting by mail. elections.... Democrats, who have made election security Here’s what you need to know to decode this and voting access a big part of their political brand year’s voting controversies. for several years, argue that the pandemic might discourage people from going to old-fashioned The Rosetta stone polling sites. The key that unlocks so much of the partisan If there’s rough agreement about that away debate about voting is one word: turnout. from the White House, there are many disputes about the specifics—what practices will be permit- An old truism holds that, all other things held ted based on what the parties perceive as beneficial equal, a smaller pool of voters tends to be better for for them. Republicans and the larger the pool gets, the better for Democrats…. A study by Stanford University found that voting by mail yielded a small but roughly equal Traditionally, Republicans have tended to sup- increase in turnout between the parties.... port higher barriers to voting and often focus on voter identification and security to protect against [A]part from the politics, absentee ballot- fraud. All the same, about half of GOP voters back printing is a boutique business and its capacity will expanding vote by mail in light of the pandemic. be tested—as may that of the Postal Service. Democrats tend to support lowering barriers and focus on making access for voters easier, with How common is voter fraud? a view to encouraging engagement. They support It exists, but it’s very rare. expanding votes via mail too. Despite anecdotal cases of people voting fraud- The next fight, in many cases, is about who and ulently in person or suspicious ballots appearing in how many get what access via mail.... the mail, most of the time, in most places, the way elections in the U.S. are processed is legitimate. Access vs. security Since the pandemic, some Republican officials The pandemic has added another layer of com- at the state level have acknowledged that the party’s plexity with the new emphasis it has put on voting language around fraud may now be putting voting by mail. President Trump says he opposes expand- at risk by amplifying fraud concerns out of propor- ing voting by mail, and his allies, including White tion…. House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, call the Trump sometimes says that large numbers process rife with opportunities for fraud. of people vote illegally in the United States, but a
The Choices Program ■ Brown University Department of History ■ www.choices.edu Voting in 2020: Values and Policies during a Pandemic Name:______Teaching with the News Online Resource 2 panel he appointed to investigate that ostensible Republicans, among other things, sometimes problem could not substantiate it…. point to what they believe was cheating in the 1960 Still, anecdotal cases of fraud crop up across presidential race. Alleged Democratic chicanery, the country. in this telling, threw the results to John F. Kennedy and cost the race for Richard Nixon.
Voter suppression Fraudulent IDs, undocumented immigrants voting, people being “bused in” on Election Day Activists frequently call out what they term remain consistent themes when Republicans talk suppression. about elections. In a dispute this spring in Nevada, for example, Democrats look to the decades of Jim Crow Democrats sued to stop the state from sending discrimination that kept many black voters out of mail-in ballots only to people who had voted in elections. recent elections rather than to all registered voters. More recently, they look at the Supreme Democrats said the state’s plan would disen- Court’s 2000 decision that handed the outcome of franchise some citizens by leaving them out of the that election to George W. Bush over Al Gore. The primary; Republicans argued that states’ voter rolls court halted the counting of ballots that Democrats are often inaccurate and that sending out ballots argued could have changed Florida’s results, swing- to everyone could lead to the ballots getting lost or ing the state to Gore. winding up in the wrong hands—opening up the prospect for fraud. [Georgia Democrat Stacy] Abrams’ group [Fair Fight Action] perceives what it calls a deliberate Voter rolls are often the focus of disputes for campaign by the establishment to purge Georgia these reasons. voter rolls of mainly black or Democratic voters. People die, move—and move out of state—and Problems with voting in Georgia’s primary in so authorities periodically need to delete names. June underscored those problems and that history, How frequently that happens, and for what reasons, Abrams and other critics said. can become controversial and the kernel of legal and political warfare between the parties. Matters of principle Likewise with voter identification documents. Many party leaders describe at having arrived In Texas, for example, the Republican- at their positions based upon principle. Republi- dominated state legislature deemed that handgun cans are more likely to argue that casting a vote is a licenses were acceptable identification at the polls privilege of citizenship to be earned and safeguard- —but student IDs, even those issued by the state’s ed with restrictions and security.... own universities, were not…. Democrats are more likely to argue that voting Another battleground is early and absentee is a right and that the barriers to casting a ballot voting. Rules vary by state, with some requiring should be as low as practical. President Lyndon more explanation than others as to what’s permis- Johnson and Democrats in the 1960s used the sible. Voting Rights Act and federal power to dismantle racist state laws designed to prevent African Bitter lessons Americans from voting, but those actions were The parties today have arrived at this moment later weakened by the Supreme Court.... after years of what they would argue were bad Whatever the outcome of this year’s election, experiences with elections at the hands of their these disputes over elections themselves likely will opponents. continue well into the future.
The Choices Program ■ Brown University Department of History ■ www.choices.edu Voting in 2020: Values and Policies during a Pandemic Name:______Teaching with the News Online Resource 3
Source 2 ABC News: “Trump vs. Biden on the issues: Election security and integrity” by Kendall Karson and Quinn Scanlan, September 29, 2020
The Choices Program ■ Brown University Department of History ■ www.choices.edu Voting in 2020: Values and Policies during a Pandemic Name:______Teaching with the News Online Resource 4 always have had. And he’ll leave.” presidential election by taking advantage of the The president’s efforts come as his own cam- increase in mail-in voting, an unproven claim that paign and state Republican parties encourage he first made after Attorney General Bill Barr sug- supporters to use mail-in voting through ads, gested that foreign countries could do this, and that online posts, and robocalls—and as his own intel- it would be hard for U.S. election officials to detect ligence officials refute his narrative. it, during an interview on Fox News in June. “We have not seen, historically, any kind of “The biggest risk that we have is mail-in bal- coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major lots, because with a mail-in ballot—well, universal election, whether it’s by mail or otherwise,” FBI mail-in ballots, it is a much easier thing for a for- Director Christopher Wray said before Congress eign power, whether it’s Russia, China, Iran, North Thursday. Korea...it’s much easier for them to forge ballots and send them in,” Trump said in early August. “It’s Biden, for his part, explicitly backed the much easier for them to cheat with universal mail- nationwide push to expand voting-by-mail in in ballots.” response to the pandemic, even calling on Con- gress to provide more funding to aid states in their However, election officials, and the FBI, have efforts, while casting Trump’s strategy as “un- disputed this scenario, citing the safeguards and American....” specificities in place—like ballots being printed on special paper or having unique barcodes on them Further stoking concerns over the integrity of -- that make this highly unlikely to happen, never the election regarding mail-in voting is the Trump mind happen undetected. administration’s assault on one of the country’s most storied institutions, the United States Postal Service. Specter of Russian influence and interference once again The USPS implemented controversial cost-cut- ting measures under Trump-installed postmaster Russia’s attempts to meddle extend beyond general Louis DeJoy, which some critics argued mail voting. In early September, ABC News re- could have adverse impacts on the election by ported that the Department of Homeland Security slowing mail delivery. Those changes were halted withheld publication of an intelligence bulletin in by a federal judge earlier this month. early July warning law enforcement agencies of a Russian scheme to attack Biden’s mental fitness, House Democrats passed a bill in August according to internal emails and a draft of the that would’ve allocated an additional $25 billion document obtained by ABC News. in funding to USPS, a cash injection the agency’s board of governors—whose Senate-confirmed The bulletin detailing Russia’s campaign members were all appointed by Trump -- requested against Biden’s mental health again echoes Trump’s from Congress back in early April because of an- own rhetoric—and indicates the most specific ticipated losses. example to date of Moscow’s intentions to influence November’s election. Trump has attempted to use this as evidence that USPS won’t be able to handle the increased There is no evidence to suggest that Biden’s not mail-in voting, asserting, “they don’t have the mon- mentally fit to be president, and both he and his ey to do the universal mail-in voting. So therefore, campaign have pushed against this narrative from they can’t do it,” Trump said on Aug. 12. But DeJoy Trump. rebuffed Trump, saying on Friday, “we’re equipped In June of last year, Trump even said in an ex- to do it and we’re going to deliver the ballots.” clusive interview with ABC News he would “listen” if foreign governments offered dirt on political Trump claims foreign governments interfer- opponents. ing with mail-in voting “I think you might want to listen, there isn’t The president has also raised the possibility anything wrong with listening,” Trump told ABC of foreign governments trying to interfere in the News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos. “If
The Choices Program ■ Brown University Department of History ■ www.choices.edu Voting in 2020: Values and Policies during a Pandemic Name:______Teaching with the News Online Resource 5 somebody called from a country, Norway, [and “We’re gonna look at that very closely, but you said] ‘we have information on your opponent’—oh, started off with Russia. Why don’t you start off with I think I’d want to hear it.” China? We think China’s maybe a bigger threat,” Trump said during a press conference at his golf Other foreign powers a worry club in Bedminster, New Jersey. But Russia isn’t the only foreign country Trump has frequently downplayed intelligence seeking to sway America’s vote. Back in August, showing Russia’s aim to aid his campaign in 2016, a public statement issued by the U.S. intelligence while Biden excoriated his rival’s administration community revealed that three of the nation’s top for failing to take action to prevent foreign election adversaries are actively attempting to meddle in interference, and said that he is putting the Krem- the presidential race, including efforts by Russia to lin and other foreign governments “on notice.” advance Trump’s reelection efforts. “If elected president, I will treat foreign inter- Intelligence officials also concluded that “Chi- ference in our election as an adversarial act that na prefers that President Trump – whom Beijing significantly affects the relationship between the sees as unpredictable—does not win reelection.” United States and the interfering nation’s govern- Iran, it found, “seeks to undermine U.S. democratic ment,” Biden wrote as part of a lengthy statement.... institutions, President Trump, and to divide the The overt differences between Biden and country in advance of the 2020 elections.” Trump on election security, experts say, crystal- Asked about the statement, Trump deflected, lize the “stark illustration” between the two men in turning the question back on the reporter. their approaches to national security….
The Choices Program ■ Brown University Department of History ■ www.choices.edu Voting in 2020: Values and Policies during a Pandemic Name:______Teaching with the News Online Resource 6
Polling Data
Poll 1 Pew Research Center, September 30-October 5, 2020
Poll 2 Gallup, September 14-28
The Choices Program ■ Brown University Department of History ■ www.choices.edu