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Quick Fix
— Today is Census Day, and the decennial count continues on even as field operations have been suspended in response to the coronavirus.
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— With less than a week to go, Wisconsin is facing a potentially massive shortage of poll workers ahead of the presidential primary election. A court case seeking to postpone the primary is ongoing.
— More states are shifting to mail voting for downballot elections in response to the coronavirus.
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Days until the Wisconsin presidential primary: 6
Days until the 2020 election: 216
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TopLine
NATIONAL HEADCOUNT — Today is April 1, otherwise known as Census Day. The hugely important decennial count of every person in America soldiers on, even as the coronavirus runs rampant through the country. Today is not the deadline for when the census is due (it is the day data is supposed to reflect), but it is a good reminder for what’s at stake with the census; The count determines everything from congressional apportionment to where billions in federal dollars are directed.
Much like every other aspect of American life, the coronavirus has thrown sand into the gears of the census. The Census Bureau suspended field operations through at least mid-April, and that was before President Donald Trump extended the nationwide social distancing guidelines through the end of the month. It is also throwing off how some populations that are displaced by the coronavirus — like college students — are being counted. (Here’s a deep dive from a couple weeks ago into that aspect from my colleague Michael Stratford, for Pros.)
But the census count must continue (it is mandated in the Constitution, after all), and it comes during a year where officials were already pushing most Americans to complete the census online. As of Tuesday, over 36 percent of American households have completed their census already, with just under 32 percent of them doing so over the internet.
And the massive public information campaign related to the census is also well underway. The Bureau is spending a whopping $500 million on advertising for the census. To wit: The bureau is among the top “political” spenders who are caught in Facebook’s advertising archive. Over the last week, the bureau spent nearly $1.6 million, more than the campaigns of either Joe Biden or Trump, on ads in a variety of languages encouraging people to fill out the census.
Individual jurisdictions also have their own efforts: States like Arizona, Michigan and California are also running Facebook ads. New York City recruited Cardi B to cut a PSA. Even Sesame Street is in on the PSA game (featuring, as you expected, Count von Count), as are much less endearing politicians and elected officials across the country. Some companies are also promoting filling out the census: Google has a link on its homepage, and NBCUniversal and Telemundo are announcing an effort that includes a major push targeted toward Spanish speakers. Meanwhile, advocacy nonprofits have also launched massive campaigns encouraging Americans, especially those who are likely to be undercounted, to participate, though the kinds of in-person events planned earlier won’t take place today.
The campaign is working with Americans, as well. In a new Pew Research survey, 67 percent of American adults said at the end of February and beginning of March that they’ve “seen or heard something recently” about the census, up from 50 percent in an early-January survey. Eighty percent said they’d either “definitely” or “probably” fill out their census form.
Two smart people to follow for all the updates on the census: NPR’s Hansi Lo Wang and D'Vera Cohn of Pew Research. And of course, we’ll keep you posted on the latest in Score. (And if you haven’t already, fill out your census! It took me 10 minutes!)
Presidential Big Board
CORONAVIRUS CHAOS — Wisconsin’s primary and spring elections are still on as scheduled, but the coronavirus is wreaking havoc, I wrote. A big development: Nearly 60 percent of Wisconsin’s municipalities are reporting a shortage of poll workers, according to a report on Tuesday from the state elections commission. As of Tuesday, over 972,000 people had requested absentee ballots, which is the most for any Wisconsin election and is a little under half the total votes cast in the 2016 spring election. A federal judge also scheduled a hearing today for a suit seeking to postpone the primary. Regular Score readers are up-to-date on the other twists-and-turns, but click through if you need a refresher.
— The state Supreme Court blocked a county clerk from telling “large groups of voters they could request absentee ballots without showing a photo ID because of the coronavirus pandemic” after the state GOP filed a lawsuit, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Patrick Marley.
POSTPONED PRIMARIES — As expected, Ohio’s delayed primary is facing a challenge from civil-rights groups. The League of Women Voters’ state affiliate, the Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute and individual voters sued, arguing that the extended absentee deadline of April 28 was too soon, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer’s Andrew Tobias reported. They want the state to pick a new date and mail out ballots to voters, among other changes.
— We have a date for when the results of the Hawaii party-run primary will be announced: May 23, according to a Q&A posted by the state party.
— West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said that his state’s primary date could change, per MetroNews. The state’s presidential and downballot primaries are scheduled for May 12, and the secretary of state’s office is already planning to send every voter an absentee ballot application.
— The entire Georgia Republican congressional delegation called for the state’s May 19 primary to be postponed, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mark Niesse reported. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who is also a Republican, said he does not have the authority to do so, and that the election must go on. “Elections are part of America's critical infrastructure. They must go on, as they have in our history during civil war, crushing recessions and deadly epidemics,” Raffensperger said. Raffensperger’s office plans to send absentee ballot request forms to every voter.
THE CASH DASH — Biden’s team is scrambling to figure out a way to overcome Trump’s massive cash-on-hand advantage in the midst of the coronavirus, which has frozen traditional fundraising operations. “Multiple fund-raisers said that giving was slowing and that they were reluctant to make aggressive requests for cash at this fragile moment,” The New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher reported. “Michèle Taylor, vice-chair of a pro-Biden super PAC, Unite the Country, said the group was not proactively seeking out new donors … but money is still flowing.” Another detail buried in The Times’ story: former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is expected to join the Biden campaign “in some capacity” after the primary is over.
Down the Ballot
MORE ELECTION CHANGES — Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos announced temporary changes to his state’s election laws after the governor signed an elections bill. The new law waives candidate signature-gathering requirements and grants the secretary of state and the governor emergency powers to change aspects of the election, if need be. That could allow for mailing ballots to every voter and changing polling places. “We have no idea what this health emergency will look like in one month, five months, or eight, and so we need to be planning now to make sure that voters can still vote, and that our democracy can still thrive during crisis,” Condos said in a statement.
— Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate will mail all registered voters an absentee ballot request for the June 2 primary, per the Des Moines Register’s Stephen Gruber-Miller.
— The Idaho downballot and local primaries are still on as scheduled for May 19 but will be conducted entirely by mail, per the Idaho Statesman’s Cynthia Sewell. Idahoans can request an absentee ballot online. The decision was announced jointly by Gov. Brad Little and Secretary of State Lawerence Denney. Denney had initially asked Little to postpone the election.
THE VBM PUSH — Democrats are continuing to push for the expansion of voting by mail. “In terms of the elections, I think that we’ll probably be moving to vote by mail,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” More from POLITICO’s Quint Forgey: “The speaker also advocated for more government dollars to be directed to the U.S. Postal Service so the independent agency could better implement a broad-based vote-by-mail system as well as deliver sorely needed personal protective equipment and other medical supplies”.
— The Association of State Democratic Committees sent a letter signed by every state party chair urging federal lawmakers to appropriate at least $2 billion to fight the coronavirus in the election. They also called for a “universal and easily accessible vote-by-mail system” and expanding voter registration options and early voting.
ON THE AIRWAVES — The NRCC’s IE arm rolled out its ad ahead of next month’s CA-25 special election runoff. The ad targets Democrat and “Sacramento politician” Christy Smith over education cuts and supporting AB-5, a divisive labor law in the state.
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a new ad touting the coronavirus relief package. “Mitch McConnell led the passage of the biggest economic rescue package in history,” the ad’s narrator says. McConnell’s campaign is spending at least $444,000 on TV in the next week, according to data from Advertising Analytics.
— Democrat John Blair, who is running in the safe open-seat election in NM-03, released an ad highlighting that he’s giving out his cell phone number on the trail. The ad has him “taking calls” from constituents and ends with his cell phone number on screen.
FIRST IN SCORE — THE CASH DASH — The RSLC announced that it raised more than $6 million in the first quarter of the year. The committee said it is its best Q1 ever. “Our team is second to none. They have done a remarkable job and even in these unprecedented and challenging times, we cannot stop working to make sure we have the tools we need to win in every corner of the country,” Austin Chambers, the president of the RSLC, said in a statement. “Elections are getting closer and more expensive each day.”
CALLED UP — Freshman Democratic Rep. Max Rose announced that he will be deployed as a member of the National Guard, per POLITICO’s Sarah Ferris. Rose will be deployed within his own district, NY-11, on Staten Island.
ENDORSEMENT CORNER — VoteVets PAC backed Democrat Josh Hicks in KY-06. Hicks is seeking to challenge GOP Rep. Andy Barr.
STAFFING UP — The DLCC announced a series of senior hires: Cory Warfield as independent expenditure director, Amy Friedman as national field director, Max Croes as independent expenditure regional political director and Caroline Closson and Raub Dakwale as regional campaigns team lead.
CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: “You’re hurting old people like me. Well, not me ... I’ll never see you, but, you know, other old people,” comedian (and sometimes Sanders impersonator) Larry David in his coronavirus PSA.
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