Your weekly source for analysis and insight from experts at the Brennan Center for Justice
The Briefing
Polls will soon close in Kentucky, Virginia, and New York’s primary elections. And as in other states, most notably Wisconsin and Georgia, today's balloting shows the stress on the system from conducting an election during a pandemic.
Kentucky, like Georgia, closed far too many polling places, all but guaranteeing long lines in some of them. In an average election year, the state has 3,700 polling locations open. This year, it’s under 200. Unsurprisingly, there were long lines at the single location available in Lexington as well as in Bowling Green. And just like in Wisconsin and Georgia, many voters in New York and Kentucky reported not receiving their absentee ballot despite asking for one well in advance of the election. For those at increased risk of serious illness during the pandemic, waiting in a long line to vote shouldn’t be required to exercise their rights.
Fortunately, we didn’t see widespread reports today of long lines stretching into the night as we did in Georgia and Wisconsin, which disproportionately harmed voters of color. It remains to be seen how a repeat of Georgia and Wisconsin was avoided. Did voters receive their mail ballots in time to use them? Were there more check-in and voting stations available to those who voted in person? Or did voters have too much difficulty obtaining transportation to the polling place and therefore didn’t vote? It’s too soon to tell, but the lessons will surely be useful as officials plan for what will be a much higher turnout election in November.
But what we’ve already seen in Wisconsin, Georgia, and other states offers a terrifying preview of November, as my colleague Wendy Weiser wrote last week. We do, however, know what the solutions are: early voting; plenty of coronavirus-safe, well-staffed, in-person polling locations; and vote by mail (regardless of President Trump’s disinformation campaign). Expanding vote by mail, allowing early voting, and ensuring coronavirus-safe polling locations, however, takes money — lots of it.
The HEROES Act, which would give state and local election officials the $4 billion they need to ensure a safe and secure election in November, has been with the Senate since May. It’s well past time for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring it to the floor for a vote and get election officials the resources they need.
Without the money, we could be looking at the mother of all election meltdowns at a time when our democracy rests on precarious ground. Congress must fund election preparedness now.

 
Democracy
One State Still Permanently Bars Everyone with Convictions from Voting — That’s About to End
Last Tuesday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she would issue an executive order before November that would restore voting rights to Iowans with past convictions. It’s the last state in the country with a policy that categorically bans people with past convictions from voting, a restriction that disproportionately affects Black Iowans. “Much credit goes to Des Moines Black Lives Matter activists,” writes Eliza Sweren-Becker. “As the country reckons once again with anti-Black race discrimination embedded in our criminal justice system and our social and political institutions more broadly, BLM activists have urged Reynolds to use her executive authority to restore voting rights to more than 60,000 Iowans.” // Read More
The Lesson of Juneteenth
Last Friday was Juneteenth, a commemoration of the formal end of slavery in the United States and a celebration of Black Americans’ contribution to making the nation a stronger and more just democracy. On this 155th anniversary of emancipation, work remains to ensure that the United States delivers on its promises of equal rights under the law. The lessons of Juneteenth for today are clear: policy declarations without sufficient advocacy and enforcement will not reach those who bear the brunt of injustice. Rights without strong empowering institutions can become empty words. // Read More

 
Justice
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of the Police Protest Movement
The tactics and mentality of police union officials are a national problem warranting nationwide attention among justice reformers. In Chicago, for example, the city’s police union leader threatened to kick out of the union any officer who takes a knee during a protest. “By refusing to embrace reasonable reforms,” writes Brennan Center Fellow Andrew Cohen, “unions will continue to undermine their own political and moral support.” // Read More
The Unknown Cost of Criminal Fees and Fines
Many counties depend on fees and fines for much of their police and court spending, but no one knows how much is spent enforcing and collecting these court-imposed financial obligations. “Funding courts and criminal justice from fees and fines wastes justice system resources at the expense of public safety,” writes Mike Crowley, a former senior fellow at the Brennan Center. “Criminal fees and fines are just one example of a sprawling criminal justice system built with little appreciation for — and sometimes negligible knowledge of — actual costs.” // Read More

 
Constitution
The Supreme Court’s Second Amendment Surprise
Since the Supreme Court sidestepped making a significant decision in a Second Amendment case in April, all eyes shifted to 10 other gun cases that the justices were considering. Gun control supporters feared the justices would take one of those cases in order to expand the right to bear arms, but the justices turned down all 10. “To grasp the significance of that outcome, we need to rewind to 2008, when the Court upended generations of federal case law” in its Heller decision, writes Brennan Center Fellow Eric Ruben. “The theory that Second Amendment cases are in season is in serious doubt.” // Read More
How Iran Became the New Battle Line Between Conservatives and Twitter
In the latest salvo in the conservative war against Twitter, Sen. Ted Cruz is calling for a criminal investigation into the social media platform for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. Cruz argues that Twitter is breaking the law merely by allowing sanctioned Iranian officials to maintain and use free accounts on its platform. “This new assault reflects a dangerous creep in sanctions over the past decade and highlights the need for Congress to substantially amend the International Emergency Economic Powers Act,” write Elizabeth Goitein and Center for a New American Security’s Peter E. Harrell. // Read More

 
News
  • Ángel Díaz on the passage of a landmark police surveillance oversight bill in New York City // CNET
  • Lauren-Brooke Eisen on law enforcement’s use of tear gas on protesters // New York Times
  • Michael German on the supposed outside agitators at protests // Fox 9
  • Liza Goitein on presidential emergency powers // International Bar Association
  • Rachel Levinson-Waldman on why police body cameras fail as a transparency tool // Fast Company
  • Michael Li on gerrymandering in key states // Guardian
  • Faiza Patel on the FBI’s social media monitoring of protesters // NBC News
  • Myrna Pérez on obstacles to voting for Black Americans // Business Insider
The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to reform, revitalize – and when necessary defend – our country’s systems of democracy and justice.

 
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