Make no mistake, this is anyone's race right now. Both Trump and Biden have clear paths to 270 electoral votes. Casting a shadow on the election, the reality of the coronavirus pandemic, which is surging across the country, new cases hitting a record in nearly 100,000 new cases just on Friday.
Tapper noted that Trump "continues to downplay the pandemic," and that Dr. Fauci is again under attack. Not only that, but
This as the president's chosen adviser on the Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Scott Atlas, who is not an expert on infectious diseases, mocked Dr. Fauci on Twitter and gave an interview to RT, the Kremlin- controlled propaganda network.
Because hey, why not talk with the Russians a few days before the election...
Switching over to Chuck Todd and the folks at Meet the Press, I was interested in his conversations about the challenges we might see next week and perhaps even later. PA SecState Kathy Boockvar was on to help with that. Todd asked her how much patience we'll need. She reminded him that "elections have never been called election night," mentioning military and overseas ballots having a full week after Election Day.
So, I just want to set that straight, that this is a process, and we want to make sure that every single vote of every valid voter is securely and accurately counted.
That said, she expects the "overwhelming majority" of mail-in, absentee, and in-person ballots will be counted "in a matter of days" and that, "for the most part," counties are planning on counting 24/7 until they're done. She did say that ballots received by Friday that are postmarked on or before Election day will be segregated, but they will be counted. And, she hopes that people will "Ignore the lawsuits, ignore the hype. Just get your ballots in today."
Next up? NBC Legal Analyst Nate Persily. He said there've been over 300 lawsuits already, in both battleground and non-battleground states.
This is sort of the legacy of Bush v. Gore 20 years ago is that the lawyers are becoming an important part of the campaign, as well.
Ballot arrival being a hot issue for litigation, Todd asked "how did that become such a vague deadline when you would think a postmark on Election Day seems pretty simple to me?" In a nutshell, Persily explained that because of the pandemic, some deadlines were extended (by the elections folks in the states, or by the courts). And that, he said,
led to further lawsuits to try to clarify what the rules were, and then those ended up at the Supreme Court, where there's been a fight as to where non-legislators, which is to say state courts or local administrators can extend the deadlines like that.
Citing a UMass Amherst poll showing that 80% were concerned to some degree about election-related violence, Todd wondered how concerned Persily was about that. He said he tries to stay positive, and noted
This is a 100-year flood of voters that we are seeing, and while there's always reasons to be concerned and vigilant, we shouldn't look at Election Day and see isolated instances of problems and assume that that is the story.
Finally, in response to Todd's question that "maybe a responsible government could address when it comes to voting," Persily said we need a "national effort to secure the vote, and he hopes a post-election "autopsy on our election system" is done to see what can be done to ensure future elections run smoothly.
I have to tell you, over the last six months, we've had hundreds of thousands of these local, sort of unsung heroes who have been dedicating their time to trying to adapt the election infrastructure to deal with the pandemic and they have done an unbelievable job.
He's right about that, for sure.
Back to Jake Tapper, to lead us down the hall, out the door, and back into the real world.
It's been a horrible year for so many people around the world and here at home in the United States.
A terrifying virus has killed or infected millions of our grandparents, moms and dads, sisters, brothers, friends. The pandemic has cost millions of jobs, thousands of businesses. And it is far from over. We must acknowledge, however, that we have seen so many Americans rise to this moment, first responders and health care providers, good Samaritans and kind neighbors, from the greatest acts of sacrifice from doctors and nurses, who literally gave their lives to care for the sick, to small, but noble actions, as simple as wearing a mask in public.
And now it's time for all of us to take one more action, to stand up and vote.
Whomever you're voting for, and for whatever reason, the idea of this nation, government of the people, by the people, for the people, as President Abraham Lincoln once said, it needs the people. It needs you.
So many of you already have risen to the challenge, braving the pandemic, and bad weather, and long lines, and attempts at discouragement and intimidation and more. It's been a beautiful sight to see, early voters totaling about two-thirds of the entire 2016 tally already, a testament to the mettle of this country, in some of the most challenging times we have ever seen.
What we need to do now is keep going. Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, an independent, a political agnostic, vote.
President Thomas Jefferson said -- quote -- "We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate."
Don't be left out. The state of our union, it's in your hands.
See you around campus. And if you are able to vote, and registered to vote, and fail to vote, you will fail not only yourself, you'll fail the rest of us too.
Masks up. Pearls on. Go vote.
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