Name: New Normal: The 2020 general election takes a back seat to COVID-19
Uploaded: 2020-04-23
Duration: 4 min 30 s
Description: Will the 2020 general election be postponed or cancelled? Fortune’s Nicole Goodkind explains.

It feels like we've been in the midst of this election cycle for years because we have been. And now that we've finally made it to the general we find ourselves ensconced in this cloud of a global pandemic and facing what might likely be a great depression. So the question going forward is, how does it actually impact the election and how do we think about it going forward? [ MUSIC ] In a normal world, the election would be the main driver of the news for the next six months would you all be here there'd be crazy graphics on CNN and MSNBC. But clearly that's not the case right now. It's incredibly unlikely that it will be canceled or even postponed. So this date is set by federal law. [ MUSIC ] And President Donald Trump has no power to move it. He cannot cancel or postpone the election. Now Congress would have to pass a law with a date change and that seems highly improbable because the House is currently Democratically controlled. So we are going to have this election on Tuesday, November 3rd. Elections took place in 1916 and 1944 those were during the World Wars. The Spanish Flu which is kind of The most similar situation to what we're in right now occurred right in the middle of President Woodrow Wilson's term, but congressional elections still happened during that time in many cases, quarantines were actually lifted just five days before the polls opened. What is interesting is there's an amendment in the Constitution. That mandates that and I quote the the President and the Vice President shall end it new moon on the 20th day of January. No matter what happens. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are going to be required constitutionally to leave the office. So under normal circumstances, the speaker of the house would be next in line for the presidency. And that would be Nancy Pelosi. She would become the president. But if we cancel the elections used remember, they're also Congressional elections happening. So without reluctant her term would also expire on January 3rd 2021 along with every single member of the house If we're all stuck in our houses if we have to shelter in place, how could we actually go out and vote? There are fears that some districts may remain under this strict Shelter in Place Order, while others are kind of, you know, more rural. They're allowed to go out and Vote the restrictions aren't as intense, and that could be enough to sway results in some states like in Florida, where you might see people in Miami remain in their homes. And then, people you know rural areas are more likely to vote republican actually be able to go out. One big idea that people are talking about right now as a way to save the the election is by expanding this vote by mail. Thing that we have going on. There are currently five states and that's Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah that allow all voters to cast their vote by mail. And there are 21 other states that use vote by mail already. For some races are mostly local elections like school board seats. But, the infrastructure is in place and other states are considering changing that to more federal elections. High profile democrats like Michele Obama have been out advocating for that recently, as well. Some republicans like it. Florida governor Rob DeSantis for example has spoken in favor of voting by mail. But there is one Prominent Republican who does not like it, and that is President Donald Trump, and he has spoken out against it very publicly. Some of the claims he's made about it are false. He claimed that at least a significant increase in voter fraud, which is actually not the case .>> Because you know, the things with bundling and all of the things that are happening with votes, were by mail. Where thousands of votes are gathered? And I'm not going to say which party does it but thousands of votes are gathered and they come in and they're dumped in a location and then all of a sudden you lose elections if you think you're gonna win. About 20 million Americans are now newly unemployed. Many of you across the country are forced to worry about immediate survival. Right. So they have to think about how to pay their rent, how to feed their families. The idea of devoting time to this presidential election kind of feels a little bit impossible right now for many Americans, I would say COVID- 19 is going to be it. A huge topic of consideration when to comes to how people pick a candidate. This is clearly the number one issue in the country right now. And I would imagine it will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. I'm sure we will exit poll after exit poll showing that this is what voters are thinking about as they head to the polls this November. [ MUSIC ]

Will the 2020 general election be postponed or cancelled? Fortune’s Nicole Goodkind explains.

New Normal: The 2020 general election takes a back seat to COVID-19

Politics

The election is taking a backseat amid COVID-19 crisis