Connecting today’s news with the research & opinion you need

Mail-In Mess

What to Know: In and around Columbus, Ohio, nearly 50,000 voters received inaccurate mail-in ballots.

The TPPF Take: The rush to send mail-in ballots to voters who may not have requested them resulted in well over half a million voters having their ballots rejected in the 2020 presidential primaries.

“Evidence shows that voting by mail is more prone to error and harder to correct than voting in person,” says TPPF’s Quico Canseco. “That’s to say nothing of the postal delays that can occur. All these factors, plus the concerns about ballot harvesting, add up to confusion and a loss of trust by the electorate in an especially contentious election year.”

Green Fairy Tales

What to Know: Energy giant Shell is about to lay off thousands of workers as it seeks to transition to “low carbon energy.”

The TPPF Take: A net-zero energy economy is prohibitively expensive and unreliable, something Shell is now realizing.

“Contrary to what its advocates claim, renewable energy can’t sustain our economy or even small portions of it,” says TPPF’s Jason Isaac. “And if Shell and BP are struggling to afford the high cost of going net-zero (or trying to), imagine the exponentially higher cost of achieving the same goal for the entire nation.”

Home Schooling

What to Know: Home schooling and other public school alternatives are more popular than ever in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The TPPF Take: COVID-19 has opened the eyes of many families to educational opportunities beyond traditional public schools.

“While there are pros and cons to both traditional and non-traditional schools, we can all agree on one thing—parents should have the right to choose the best option for their child,” says TPPF’s LLC member Ashton Morgan. “For some, that will be a traditional school, and for others, it could be home school, a charter school, a virtual school or hybrid programs.”