Amateur Hour- Voting During Coronavirus

Wisconsin’s presidential primary elections- and a state supreme court justice race- were held on Tuesday April 7^th in the midst of stay-at-home orders. These are the first statewide races in the US since primaries in Florida, Arizona and Illinois on March 17^th. Some commentators have related local COVID-19 outbreaks to in-person voting during the March 17^th primaries, but the medical community has not agreed with this hypothesis.  

In Wisconsin, many citizens relied on in-person voting, and waited with face masks in social-distanced lines. For health reasons, most poll workers – predominately elderly volunteers- stayed home, closing most polling places in Milwaukee and Green Bay. Long lines were observed in these cities, perhaps because many absentee ballots were not mailed to voters on time. Absentee voters had to find a witness to sign their ballot and envelope, and some citizens were reluctant to come out of self-isolation to meet this requirement. Results will be tabulated after April 13^th, which will reveal voter participation and turnout rates by city and county. There is a good chance that the media will declare this fairly low-stakes vote a spoiled election. These kinks- make that structural flaws- need to be addressed well ahead of the November elections, and preferably before the April 7^th results are finalized. Don’t take Wisconsin to the whipping post over this; the state is only a messenger of situations across the country, yet to come.

My city, Norfolk, Virginia, will be holding local elections on May 5^th. The Office of Elections recommends that citizens apply for an absentee ballot. The approved steps for requesting an absentee ballot in light of COVID-19 is a workaround, using the existing vote-by-mail request. Social-distancing absentee voters will swear or affirm, under felony penalty for making willfully false material statements, that “I have a reason or condition that prevents me from going to the polls on Election Day”, that condition being “my disability or illness”. If this doesn’t count as voter discouragement, tell me.  Because of how state laws on absentee voting are written, the use of workarounds like this will be common across the country.  

What a single vote can do

Back in 2014, I got at least two votes in an uncontested ANC ( neighborhood committee) election in DC. Since I had not declared candidacy, no winner was proclaimed. As a studious college student, I went back to my studies in New York, and did not challenge the Board of Elections to be seated.

And three years later in Virginia, where I’m staying for work, a House of Delegates seat will flip to the Democrats by one vote in recount. Yes, one vote of 24,000 cast. And that one voter will end the 20-year Republican majority in the legislative body, resulting in a power-sharing tie. It takes a real “good old boy” to congratulate the presumed incoming delegate. And a “good old boy” network is therefore one of Virginia’s strengths: I have seen stats showing that Virginia is less partisan than other states. Even when a Democratic wave wipes away your Republican  supermajority. Apparently, through the House of Delegate’s elections committee, the governing party can toss a close election like tied candidates toss a coin in other states. In the post-1965 voting rights act environment, a legislative overturn of a recount would warrant federal scrutiny. Being a Virginia delegate is a part-time job, with 90 days of service over two years. The pay is approximately $18,000 per year plus hotel and meals while in session. Most delegates have full-time jobs, so engaging in a controversial, almost unprecedented, endeavor might not be appealing to outgoing Delegate Yancey, a Republican, especially during the Christmas season. Personal sensibilities might trump party loyalty, and how many citizens can say that they’ve been tossed out of office by a single ballot? The Republican Party of Virginia has yet to put out a statement.

With legislative experience that outgoing (carpet bagging) Governor McAuliffe lacks, incoming Democratic Governor Ralph Northam could lure a Republican delegate to a job in the executive branch, putting Democrats into the majority until a special election can take place. Republicans pulled a similar stunt on the Virginia Senate in 2014. despite the stunned silence, I doubt that Republican leadership is waiving a white flag.  You don’t just give away the keys to your house after 20 years of power. Democrats would know that feeling, having held the House of Delegates from the end of Reconstruction to 1998, about 120 years of Democrat control in the Solid South. So I’m betting that there are back room discussions with Democratic leadership and the incoming governor that will leave shell shocked Republicans with more power than they deserve after November’s electoral whipping. After all, it’s the art of the deal.

In other news, professional sports players play and perform for the fans, not for themselves. The NFL organization ‘s fumbling on the National Anthem protests was reported to cost about 10-12% viewership, which the media explained away as a natural occurrence of 2016 being an election year. But that margin was  enough to hit a tipping point that made stadiums empty out and tickets sell for cheap. Which is a surprise for me, since I thought new game-day fans would fill in for dejected regulars. Then again, I’m talking about the Washington Redskins, a team that will not be going to the playoffs this year. Given the economic harm that NFL has suffered from player protests, the organization could bring C.K. in to discuss a settlement of grievances, as an alternative to substantial civil suit against the controversial player.

Racial grievances in the NFL were a fringe issue until last year. Jesse Jackson’s and Spike Lee’s concerns now hold water. I applaud rapper P. Diddy for quipping about purchasing an NFL franchise. African Americans are underrepresented in sports leadership- from quarterbacks to managers to owners. It is analogous to the military of the 1970’s: you can be the best employer of racial minorities, yet there will be tension until one’s management represents diversity.

UPDATE (12/21/17): GOP reversed its course of resignation, successfully challenging one uncounted ballot. Result is a tie, coin flip to follow ( and likely second recount) per Virginia law.