06/08/2020
Judge tells Tennessee to allow all to vote by mail
A Tennessee judge ruled last week that the state must give all its registered voters an option to vote by mail during the COVID-19 pandemic. The judge said limiting mail-in voting options to those with disabilities or over 65 would be an "unreasonable burden on the fundamental right to vote" because Tennesseans would have to weigh the risk of getting sick with not voting. Last month, a federal judge ruled that Texas must also give voters to mail in their ballots.
■Class discussion: Could forcing people to wait in long lines to vote expose them to the coronavirus? What happened during the Wisconsin primary when there weren’t enough people willing to work at the polls during the COVID-19 pandemic? President Donald Trump opposed expanding mail-in voting, saying it would hurt Republicans. Is their evidence that voting by mail helps one party or another? Is their evidence that mail-in ballots lead to voter fraud? How many convictions?