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Just dropped a big investigation with @VICENews:
The U.S. will have almost fewer 21,000 Election Day polling places in 2020 than four years ago.
That's a 20% drop from 2016. https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkdenn/the-us-eliminated-nearly-21000-election-day-polling-locations-for-2020
The U.S. will have almost fewer 21,000 Election Day polling places in 2020 than four years ago.
That's a 20% drop from 2016. https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkdenn/the-us-eliminated-nearly-21000-election-day-polling-locations-for-2020
The deepest cuts were driven by COVID and shifts to vote by mail and voting centers. But many states are just cutting while doing little to nothing to expand VBM.
40 of the 45 states that weren't already vote by mail saw cuts, and 35 are not sending mail ballots to everyone.
40 of the 45 states that weren't already vote by mail saw cuts, and 35 are not sending mail ballots to everyone.
This was a biiig lift - it took bugging 50 secretaries of state/election boards (and DC!) for their info and comparing it to 2016 and 2012 @No_Little_Plans deserves kudos for doing most of that.
Wanna know what your state did? Wanna see the whole country mapped? We've got all our info here: https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkde7n/uncounted-the-voting-access-project
All these cuts could lead to longer lines for voters — especially in states that didn't do much to expand mail voting. Not all voters trust mail voting, some for good reason. And voters without access to a car are much less likely to vote if their polling place is far away.
These cuts will disproportionately impact poor, nonwhite and young people. "Closing this many polling places at such a vast scale really does affect voters. Fewer polling places can lead to longer lines, longer wait times, and hurt people," said @LChapmanEsq of @civilrightsorg
