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UChicago’s Weekly Civics Briefing
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| ELECTION DAY IS 23 DAYS AWAY |
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Excuses Needed to Vote By Mail
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Do you have a plan to vote?
Here are resources to find our what your state’s deadlines and requirements are for voting:
By State:
- USA.gov’s How To Register to Vote: https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote
- UchiVotes Voter Information: https://www.uchivotes.com/
- Vote.org General Overview: https://www.vote.org/
Illinois Specific:
- WWTW’s Voter Guide: https://news.wttw.com/elections/voters-guide/2020-general-election
- Find Your District: https://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/DistrictLocator/AddressFinder.aspx
- Information About Tax Proposal Referendum: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/2/19/20999063/graduated-income-tax-illinois-referendum-everything-you-need-to-know-fair-tax
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ELECTION 2020
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Takeaways from Vice Presidential Debate
On Wednesday night, Republican Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic Senator Kamala Harris faced off in the Vice Presidential Debate, where they discussed the most pressing matters facing the nation, including the pandemic, Supreme Court packing and taxes. Harris used the majority of her time to point out her perceived flaws in President Trump’s response to the coronavirus, especially focusing on the fact that Vice President Pence is the leader of the White House’s Coronavirus Task force. In turn, Pence attempted to defend himself from these attacks, citing the condition of the pre-COVID economy and criticizing the Biden/Harris campaign’s proposed tax policies. The race’s polling numbers of the race will most likely remain unchanged after the debate, as a recent CNN poll shows that 90% of voters have made up their mind. Meanwhile, only 10 percent of undecided voters claim that they made their decision during or right after a presidential debate in 2016.
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What’s the Secret About Mail-In Ballots?
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 16 states require that absentee ballots be mailed in a privacy sleeve. These sleeves are paper documents that serve to protect the voter’s privacy by separating their identity and signature from their ballot, fitting inside the return envelope. In many states, if the voter does not place their ballot in the sleeve, his or her vote will not be counted. Places like Hillsborough County in Florida have recognized that these precautionary sleeves are often filled out improperly or discarded. While in the past that would disqualify the vote, Hillsborough has announced that an absence of the secrecy sleeve will not stop the vote from being counted. However, this is only one county, and many states will not count thousands of votes because the voter did not place his or her vote in the secrecy sleeve correctly.
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Poll Watcher Recruitment to Address Alleged Voter Fraud Raises Concern of Voter Intimidation
A decades-old mandate barring the recruiting and deploying of poll watchers has been lifted with the purpose of deterring voters from participating in fraudulent behavior at poll stations. In response, President Trump’s re-election campaign has recruited 50,000 volunteers to take advantage of the new opportunity. Some agree that the poll watcher will help prevent voter fraud from people who are underage, unregistered, or who try to vote more than once. However, there has been a history of poll volunteers belonging to armed militia groups. This worries others who fear some poll watchers will undermine the legitimacy of the election by intimidating voters who they believe will not vote for the incumbent.
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FEDERAL NEWS
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Amy COVID Barrett
On September 26, President Trump announced his nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the late Justice Ginsburg’s seat. While Republicans want to rapidly confirm Judge Barrett so the Supreme Court can operate at full capacity, Democrats remain opposed to this measure, citing the Senate’s refusal to confirm Judge Garland in 2016. Republicans have a 53–47 majority in the Senate, but with two Republican senators opposed to voting so quickly, Republicans need every member present to confirm Barrett. The coronavirus cases tied to Trump’s White House event may affect the number of Republicans able to vote in person. Three Republican Senators have recently tested positive — Mike Lee of Utah, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — prior to the start of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on October 12.
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Safety Precautions: Not Up For Debate
On Friday, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) canceled the second presidential debate, scheduled for this coming Thursday. After President Trump was diagnosed and hospitalized for contracting COVID-19, the CPD decided the second debate would be conducted virtually. The Trump campaign refused, leading to the cancellation. Former Vice President Biden will participate in an ABC town hall in Philadelphia instead, a week before the final debate on October 22. Donald Trump is the first major-party nominee to decline to attend a presidential debate since Jimmy Carter refused to debate Ronald Reagan in 1980.
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STATE NEWS
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Speaker Madigan’s Leadership Overshadowed by Association with ComEd Probe
Fidel Marquez, the former Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for the Illinois-dominant energy supplier Commercial Edison, pleaded guilty on September 29th to a charge of bribery. Marquez and Commercial Edison were beneficiaries of legislation passed through Michael Madigan’s Illinois State Legislature and had a consistent working relationship with the Speaker. Alongside Madigan’s long record of public service, he works privately in property law. As the investigation unfolds, Madigan’s power brokerage strategies are elucidated to the public. Yet, the case of Commercial Eddison’s efforts to work with his office have compelled Speaker Madigan to justify–in writing and in the Legislature–his expansive presence in both the public and private spheres. In late September, Madigan set in writing his response to the Commercial Edison probe, asserting his innocence and that, when he works with private business, he assumes no quid pro quo.
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Governor Unveils Criminal Justice Reform Proposals
On Tuesday, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker publicly unveiled a list of seven “guiding principles” that his administration will take as it works with the state legislature on pursuing criminal justice reform. Among the proposals are elimination of cash bail, limits on pre-trial detention, shorter sentences, greater oversight over law enforcement, and more training for officers to interact with non-violent crimes and protestors. The reform efforts are part of a long-time initiative by the Legislative Black Caucus and began in January. The proposals were criticized by law enforcement leaders who stated that they were developed without input by members of the criminal justice system itself.
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CHICAGO NEWS
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Updates on Racial Injustice and Policing in Chicago
Since late May, Chicago has seen countless protests against police brutality and demanding racial justice in the city. Specifically, many called for the defunding of the Chicago Police Department, including the organizers of a protest on June 6th that garnered 30,000 attendees. More recently, on September 30th, the Mayor’s office released the results of a citywide survey that found that nearly 9/10 of the 37,679 respondents were in support of “reallocating resources away from the police”. However, out of the ten largest cities in the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Houston, and others, Chicago was the only one “not yet to agree on new reforms to policing” after the summer of protests, according to a report from September 24th.
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