Editorial: Congress has to immunize election day against fear of the coronavirus

That’s why a consensus has been growing that Congress and state election officials should think now about creative ways to allow voters to exercise the franchise on Nov. 3, including but not limited to a dramatic expansion of voting by mail, a convenience that is beginning to seem like a necessity, and which some states, including California, offered even before the pandemic. Richard L. Hasen, an election-law expert at UC Irvine, proposed that Congress require the states to allow no-excuse absentee voting and underwrite that effort with federal funds.