Collection

Voting from a Quarantine

Solutions Journalism

Council on Foreign Relations

Educator (NOT Journalism School)

The spread of COVID-19 has thrown nearly every aspect of American life into disarray, and our electoral system has not been spared. Uncertainty reigns as social distancing and quarantine measures have delayed primaries, cancelled political rallies, and kept canvassers at home. With one of the most consequential presidential elections on the horizon, many people in the United States are worried about the government’s ability to administer elections during this unprecedented crisis.

Fortunately, a potential solution already exists: mail-in voting. States and municipalities that have already implemented mail-in voting have seen boosts in voter turnout, as two stories on Colorado’s voter enfranchisement law point out. Another story chronicles how Oregon became the first state in the country to successfully conduct all elections by mail. Newsrooms are already catching on to this potential solution. Two stories in this collection explicitly tout mail-in voting as a solution to the coronavirus-induced election uncertainty. However, the journalists rightfully cover the challenges of scaling, infrastructure, cost, and voter privacy.