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Americans had to do more research this year to ensure their vote counts. Because of the pandemic we’ve relied more on absentee voting, vote-by-mail, curbside voting, and ballot drop boxes.
Amid the changes caused by the pandemic, more than 230 election-related lawsuits have been filed across all 50 states. More will almost certainly come after Election Day.
Voting rights advocates won numerous COVID-19-related decisions that expanded access to absentee ballots, extended deadlines to count those ballots and allowed blind and disabled voters to cast their ballots electronically or by phone. President Donald Trump’s lawyers and supporters have also scored key victories to restrict voting access. They’ve locked in Election Day deadlines for absentee voting, limited the number of ballot drop boxes and blocked other measures to ease voting.
Americans want to make sure their vote counts. USA TODAY national correspondents Alan Gomez, Deborah Barfield Berry, and Joey Garrison join host Claire Thornton two days before Election Day to discuss potential paths to victories for each candidate, election-related lawsuits, and resources for voters who may need legal advice about voting. Alan, Deborah, and Joey each make a different case for why you should go out and vote if you haven’t already.
USA TODAY editors argue voting is the surest way to strengthen our democracy, and is a decision all eligible voters have the power to exercise.
For more information about safe voting options, you can call the nonpartisan watchdog group Election Protection at 866-687-8683.
Keep up with the presidential election and races in your local community at usatoday.com/politics.
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