You May Need to Vote By Mail Early This Year – The Tuesday AM Quickie 3/24/26
Pete Hegseth's Pentagon is kicking all the reporters out of the building. That's the kind of thing one does when things are going well, war-wise. - Corey
ON THE SHOW TODAY
3/24: Sam will be hosting solo; the guest will be Suzanne Mettler, the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions at Cornell University, discussing her book co-written with Trevor Brown, "Rural Versus Urban: The Growing Divide That Threatens Democracy."
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Today you’ll read about who's been making out like bandits thanks to Donald Trump's war on Iran, the findings of a Senate Democrat's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his billionaire clients, and the election result that has Italians singing Bella Ciao.
THE BIG NEWS
Supreme Court Prepares to Strike a Blow Against Vote-By-Mail and Disenfranchise Many
Palm Beach County, Florida is holding a special election today for a seat in the state legislature. Normally, this wouldn't rise to the level of a lead story in this newsletter's worldwide news roundup. But the county elections office's records say that one Donald J. Trump voted by mail in this election – at the very same time he's trying to ban vote-by-mail across the country.
"Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating, and we got to do something about it all," Trump said yesterday, per NBC News.
Enter the Supreme Court. The conservative majority yesterday "appeared likely to embrace a conservative challenge to tallying mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, a move that could upend election procedures in states across the country as voters prepare to cast ballots in the midterm elections," the Washington Post reports.
"A majority of justices seemed ready to side with arguments by Republicans and Libertarians who told the court that federal election law preempts Mississippi from counting ballots that arrive up to five days after polls close as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.
"Most states require mail-in ballots to arrive by Election Day, but Mississippi is one 14 states that allow grace periods of days or weeks. A ruling against Mississippi could open the door to challenges to similar provisions in other states."
What does this mean for you if you plan to vote by mail? It depends on what the court ultimately decides, of course, and on where you live. In California, people may be forced to send their mail-in ballots extra early to ensure they will be counted, the Los Angeles Times reports. In Alaska, where some villages are accessible only by plane, the grace periods for mail-in ballot are a "necessity," the Associated Press reports. Thousands of Native voters may be disenfranchised, which no doubt suits Trump and the Republicans just fine.