DENVER -- A majority of voters across party lines say they want the option to mail in their ballots during the pandemic, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos polL, and many states are giving Colorado's all-mail ballot voting model a harder look.
Since 2014, all registered voters in Colorado have received ballots by mail.
Amanda Gonzalez, executive director of Colorado Common Cause, says the state's system shows that when voters can mail in ballots, cast ballots at any center in their county and drop ballots off before or after work, people want to vote.
"When they have several weeks of early voting available, it's not just one day," she points out. "They participate in our system. And when they turn in their ballots, we get better policies, we get more accountable politicians, and that's good for all of us."
Last week President Donald Trump received a fact-check notice for a tweet he sent out warning of widespread fraud if states roll out vote-by-mail options before the November election. Others have called for witnesses and notaries for mail-in ballots.
According to a Denver Post report, a tiny fraction of 1% of all votes cast in 2018 in Colorado were flagged by election officials to be investigated for fraud.
Gonzalez says voter participation increased by almost 10% after the state switched to an all-mail system, while other states saw declines. She notes increased voter turnout has not favored one political party over another.
But Gonzalez agrees that it's important to have security features in place, such as matching signatures on ballots with handwriting samples.
"But a signature verification and an attestation does really well in Colorado," she notes. "I think that when you talk about needing a notary or a witness, you're creating barriers to voting that really disenfranchise whole communities."
After the Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked an effort to enable remote voting in the state's April primary, it's estimated that 67 voters and workers were infected by COVID-19.
While delivery options and restrictions vary, voters in all 50 states currently have the right to request a ballot by mail.
Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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Recent Supreme Court rulings on air pollution are affecting Virginia and the nation.
Climate advocates said the court overstepped its bounds in ruling the Environmental Protection Agency's Good Neighbor Rule was improperly enacted and repealing the so-called "Chevron deference." Without it, judges have to rule on ambiguous regulatory laws with no agency expertise.
Craig Segall, vice president of the advocacy group Evergreen Action, said the court is diminishing the capacity of Virginia's federal climate partners like the EPA.
"By creating room to attack, for instance, carbon standards for power plants federally, that Virginia might want to implement," Segall outlined. "Or by making it harder for U.S. EPA to move us toward electric vehicles that would create jobs in Virginia and that would, you know, clean up the air, especially in Northern Virginia where it's so congested."
He added it creates an opportunity for states to lead on climate action. But partisan opinions on climate change vary across the country. In Virginia, it means mixed efforts from utility companies and lawmakers. Dominion Energy is developing offshore wind, but it is also pressing on with a natural gas plant residents vehemently oppose.
The rulings, coupled with decisions on presidential immunity and what constitutes bribery have eroded the Supreme Court's perception of impartiality. Polls show most Americans across party lines feel the Court puts political ideology first.
Quentin Scott, federal policy director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said it opens the floodgates to government corruption.
"We can't have this blatant, open corruption or it will diminish our effectiveness of government and enforcement of some very important rules related to pollution," Scott asserted.
He stressed climate action will be a top ballot priority along with preserving democracy. Some of his group's top issues for the next presidency will be improving grid interconnection of clean energy projects and approving certain reforms for the Supreme Court.
Disclosure: Chesapeake Climate Action Network contributes to our fund for reporting on Climate Change/Air Quality, and Sustainable Agriculture. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
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Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, delivered a powerful message in Indianapolis.
Speaking at a Zeta Phi Beta Sorority event, just days after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her candidacy, Harris emphasized her dedication to affordable healthcare, student debt relief, and gun control measures, including universal background checks and an assault weapons ban.
She also hammered home that, if she is elected president, she would restore a woman's right to choose an abortion.
"When I am President of the United States and when Congress passes a law to restore those freedoms, I will sign it into law," Harris said. "We are not playing around."
Harris expressed her belief that the current administration has made progress toward a better future by implementing such initiatives as capping insulin prices for more affordable healthcare, passing the Child Tax Credit, and forgiving student loan debt for millions of Americans.
GOP Vice-Presidential nominee J.D. Vance was also in Indiana Wednesday. He spoke at a private event in Ft. Wayne.
Criticizing Project 2025, a conservative plan drafted by the Heritage Foundation, Harris warned it would take the country backward in the areas of medical freedom and education.
"This represents an outright attack on our children, our family, and our future. These extremists want to take us back, but we are not going back. We are not going back," she said.
Harris called for unity in defending freedom and stated there are two different visions for the country. Her vision, she said, looks to the future; the other, she said, looks to the past. Harris urged the community to mobilize and vote, stressing the significance of this moment in shaping the nation's future.
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A sweeping conservative plan to shape a possible second Donald Trump presidency is making headlines, even as the GOP candidate claims to know little about it.
"Project 2025" from the conservative Heritage Foundation includes standard conservative ideas, such as slashing regulations, but also firing thousands of civil servants, dismantling the Department of Education and giving more power to the states.
David Nevins, co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder of the Bridge Alliance, a network of organizations working to promote healthy self-governance, has enlisted experts to share their thoughts on each of Project 2025's 30 sections.
"The cross-partisan approach that we believe in is, in some cases, the federal government can do certain things more effectively - in some cases not as effectively - and that's the discussion we need to have as a nation," Nevins said.
Alarming to New Mexico conservationists, Project 2025 proposes slashing federal money for research and investment in renewable energy, and replacing carbon-reduction goals with efforts to increase energy production and energy security.
Nevins believes many on the far right want to "turn back the clock" and erase societal changes that have occurred in the last 20 to 30 years. He said people can be afraid of change - especially when things are moving fast - but thinks Project 2025 represents a lack of open-mindedness rather than seeking common ground to take democracy to its next level.
"The reality of America is that we are a diverse country, in terms of racial, ethnic, sexual preferences, religion - that is the reality. And if we're going to live into the pluralistic dream of our founding fathers and mothers, we have to learn to make that work," he explained.
While Trump has denied knowing much about Project 2025, nearly two-thirds of the authors behind the plan served in his former administration.
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