Voting

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The COVID-19 pandemic made mail in voting more common. Will that last? : NPR

The COVID-19 pandemic, so far, has had some lasting effects on how people cast ballots in the U.S.

According to a new report from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, mail voting rates in the U.S. "remained higher than pre-pandemic levels" during last year's midterm elections, when more than 35 million mail ballots were cast and counted.

It's been an open question as to whether the pandemic would have any long-term impact on how people vote in the U.S. Ahead of the 2020 election, many states opened up their vote by mail programs to more voters and officials also created more early voting options. And many voters took advantage of those options.

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How signature costs could be leading to ballot petition fraud : NPR

"Michigan's election for governor was upended last year when several Republicans were removed from the primary ballot for problems with their voter signatures.

The news highlighted instances of suspected fraud in the process, which experts say could be encouraged by higher rates signature-gathering companies are now charging for their services.

As a result, states such as Colorado and California are hoping to crack down on bad actors in the signature-gathering industry."

When you look at election-related crime in New York, petition signature forgery and residency issues usually are the common. Residency often plays in when candidates run in districts that are poor and urban, where the candidate says they live in a neighborhood when they actually have a nice home in the suburbs where they actually live. In both cases, the stakes are high, which can encourage cheating.

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Campaign signs may be old school, but they can have a big influence : NPR

With election season in full swing, seemingly every neighborhood and busy intersection is sprouting dozens of multicolored signs touting candidates for offices ranging from register of wills to U.S. Senate.

Often, these signs proclaim a candidate's name, but not much else. You might have wondered, how effective can they be as a campaign tool, especially in an age of radio, television and social media? Are they even a smart place to put campaign resources, particularly in local races, where funds are tight? This midterm season, the role of the debate has changed Politics This midterm season, the role of the debate has changed

It turns out political scientists have tried to answer these questions.

A 2015 study led by Donald Green, a political science professor at Columbia University, found that political signs can in fact make a difference — "somewhere between 1 and 2 percentage points on average," Green says. "Hardly earth shattering, but not nothing, either." In races that are especially close, they might just be the deciding factor.