Opinion: Democracy and its advocates must adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic

Opinion: Democracy and its advocates must adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic

Research centers including the Brennan Center for Justice, the UCLA Voting Rights Project, and scholars at a UC Irvine symposium have coordinated to quickly generate an evidence-based consensus on policy objectives. They focus on four linked processes: upgrading to online and same-day voter registration; ensuring that all registered voters in the United States have a mail-in ballot option to accommodate social distancing; providing at least a week of early in-person voting, with enough strategically placed, public health-compliant voting centers to reduce long lines and administrative stress on Election Day; making sure ballots can be tracked electronically and having in place a process for accurate processing, including ample opportunities for voters to verify ballots that have been rejected.