Sightings

"While the Postal Service has made progress in preparing for the 2020 general election, there are concerns surrounding integrating stakeholder processes with Postal Service processes to help ensure the timely delivery of Election and Political Mail. These potential concerns include: Ballots mailed without barcode mail tracking technology; Ballot mailpiece designs that result in improper processing; Election and Political Mail likely to be mailed too close to the election, resulting in insufficient time for the Postal Service to process and deliver the mailpieces; Postmark requirements for ballots; and Voter addresses that are out of date. Resolving these issues will require higher level partnerships and cooperation between the Postal Service and various state officials, including secretaries of state and state election boards. Timely delivery of Election and Political Mail is necessary to ensure the integrity of the U.S. election process. more »

In 13 states and the District of Columbia, including the closely contested battlegrounds of Pennsylvania and Michigan, election officials can’t start processing absentee ballots until Election Day, and in three more states they can’t start until the polls close. With millions of such ballots anticipated, that’s a daunting, if not impossible, task to perform quickly. And with many more voters using mail-in ballots for the first time, mistakes such as failing to sign the envelope or sending it too late likely will lead to a larger share of rejected ballots. The possible result: vote counts that aren’t complete for days or even weeks, creating an opportunity for candidates, parties, members of the media or others to sow doubts about the legitimacy of the process. more »

In a hyped press briefing the eve before the Republican National Convention, President Donald Trump falsely said that convalescent plasma had been “proven to reduce mortality by 35%,” even though the therapy has not yet been shown to be effective for COVID-19. On 6 separate occasions, President Trump has claimed that Europe’s excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic is 33% to 40% higher than America’s. But that’s only possible when cherry-picking numbers or ignoring Europe’s larger population. Facebook posts falsely claim that under Joe Biden, the “tax rate on a family making 75000 dollars would go from 12% to 25%.” Biden’s proposal does not call for a tax increase on those making less than $400,000, though analysts say an increased corporate tax rate could effectively result in a small tax increase for middle-income earners. Social media repeats an error reported by Lou Dobbs on Fox Business in July, claiming that major corporations were donating large sums of money to Black Lives Matter. The companies have pledged support for racial equality initiatives, but haven’t specified Black Lives Matter as a beneficiary. more »

Jo Freeman Reviews: Joni Ernst describes herself as a "farmer, soldier, mother, Senator." Born in 1970, Ernst greatly benefitted from the doors opened by the 1960s women’s liberation movement, becoming the first woman to be elected to Congress from Iowa. Girls born in 1970 were still expected to be wives and mothers and not much more. During the Iraq War she was sent to Kuwait where she experienced combat first hand. All these experiences put serving veterans high on her personal priority list. more »