How to vote in a pandemic + 20% unemployment + #PresidentNewsom?
Happy Thursday to you, readers. Thanks for waking up with the Capitol Alert. Enjoy your weekend, get outside and, of course, do so responsibly.
HOW TO VOTE IN A PANDEMIC
How does one go about a general election while in the middle of a global pandemic?
It’s going to be tough, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
While we’re in the midst of the first leg of the coronavirus rocking the Golden State and the rest of the country, there’s a general idea that COVID-19 could return this fall, right in the middle of when millions of Americans are supposed to be voting for their next president.
The institute’s Eric McGhee notes that the coronavirus could push the United States to alternative voting options, which are “more manageable” in California than other states.
No, we can’t postpone the general election, because, you know that’s “hardwired into the U.S. Constitution.”
“Instead, we must get as many voters to cast ballots by mail as possible,” McGhee wrote, adding that California has already instituted a strong vote-by-mail system that continues to expand.
The model doesn’t come without concerns, i.e. limited preparation time, encouraging people to vote even through the restructuring snafus and making sure the change doesn’t disproportionately affect certain demographics.
“The task is daunting, but we have little choice,” McGhee explained. “Our best hope for a safe and fair election is to expand vote from home options as much as possible. The question is not whether to do it, but to recognize the challenges and work to mitigate them as much as possible.”
Related — The coronavirus pandemic is forcing political campaigns to brace for an unprecedented challenge: How to forecast who will vote in an election set during the most frightening health crisis in a century.
Political strategists from both parties who were almost certainly counting on record turnout for the November elections say the lingering threat of COVID-19 — or the potential of it resurfacing — could significantly remake the voter pool in unpredictable ways.
HISTORIC UNEMPLOYMENT ON THE HORIZON
Via Dale Kasler...
Just a couple of weeks ago, economists were saying the coronavirus pandemic could drive unemployment rates in California to 12 percent or higher, rivaling the worst the state endured during the Great Recession.
If only that were true.
In a stunning report Wednesday, economist Jeff Michael of the University of the Pacific said California’s unemployment rate could reach 18.8 percent by May, with more than 3 million jobs erased.
If his prediction proves accurate, California would face a downturn of the severity not seen since the Great Depression, when unemployment hit 25 percent.
But with much of the economy abruptly shut down, in California and most other states, by mandatory “stay at home” orders, experts say the impact on jobs has already been historic. Bars and almost all retailers are closed, restaurants are limited to takeout only, and tourism and entertainment venues have been idled.
Michael said Sacramento-area unemployment could hit 18.5 percent and Fresno 20.7 percent. Modesto would see a rate of 20.2 percent and the jobless figure will hit 20.5 percent in Merced.
The Bay Area, with its high tech economy, will fare slightly better. San Francisco unemployment will reach 17.1 percent and San Jose 15.3 percent, Michael said.
THE LAST CANDIDATE STANDING
Via Charles Duncan...
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is dropping out of the Democratic primary, clearing the way for former Vice President Joe Biden to take the nomination and face President Donald Trump in the fall.
“As I see this crisis gripping the nation,” Sanders said, “I cannot in good conscious continue to mount a campaign that cannot win.” Sanders made the announcement in a live video just before noon Wednesday.
Sanders described Biden as a “very decent man” who he will work with moving forward. “Standing united we will go forward to defeat Donald Trump,” he said. He called Trump as “the most dangerous president in modern American history.”
In a statement released after the announcement, Biden said, “Bernie has put his heart and soul into not only running for President, but for the causes and issues he has been dedicated to his whole life.”
“Bernie has done something rare in politics. He hasn’t just run a political campaign; he’s created a movement. And make no mistake about it, I believe it’s a movement that is as powerful today as it was yesterday,” Biden said.
In a tweet, the presumptive nominee said, “To Bernie’s supporters: I know that I need to earn your votes. And I know that might take time. But I want you to know that I see you, I hear you, and I understand the urgency of this moment. I hope you’ll join us. You’re more than welcome: You’re needed.”
Tweeting as Sanders made his announcement, Trump said, “Bernie Sanders is OUT! Thank you to Elizabeth Warren. If not for her, Bernie would have won almost every state on Super Tuesday! This ended just like the Democrats & the DNC wanted, same as the Crooked Hillary fiasco. The Bernie people should come to the Republican Party, TRADE!”
#PRESIDENTNEWSOM?
Biden may be the presumptive Democratic nominee, but there’s another Democrat some liberals on Twitter wouldn’t mind seeing in the White House: California’s own Gavin Newsom.
The hashtag #PresidentNewsom began trending on the social media platform after Newsom appeared on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, where Newsom used the occasion to announce that he had secured a contract for 200 million masks a month for California. That announcement followed a previous one that California would loan 500 ventilators to states that needed them more urgently.
Many people took to Twitter to discuss how presidential they found California’s governor to be, or to wish that he could be the president right now. Some vowed to work for his campaign, should he ever launch one. Others speculated on what President Trump must think of the hashtag.
Newsom, for his part, has gone out of his way to offer praise to Trump for how he’s dealt with California during the COVID-19 emergency.
“He said everything that I could have hoped for,” Newsom said about one of his conversations with Trump last month. “Every single thing he said, they followed through.”
You can see some of the tweets and read more about the #PresidentNewsom hashtag here.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“This is a make-or-break week in our battle against this virus: the time to cut back even on essential errands, to skip shopping if you have enough and just stay home. We can’t get complacent. We can’t let up in this fight.”
- Mayor Eric Garcetti, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
On March 18, as a wave of new coronavirus-related shutdowns crashed across California and hospital equipment shortages raised concerns around the country, the Sutter Health hospital chain was portraying optimism, by Jason Pohl and Ryan Sabalow
- The class of 2020 is graduating into a recession. Congress might defer student loans, by Kate Irby
More COVID-19 deaths were reported in California on Tuesday than during any other day so far, but the state continues to see fewer deaths each day than several other smaller states, and the pace at which deaths are doubling in California has slowed, by Phillip Reese