Why The 2020 Election Won't Be Stolen: Three Perspectives

Today, we’re going to talk about voting: how to do it safely and correctly, and efforts to assure that the results are accurate and that the election is conducted fairly. The 2020 election ends two weeks from tomorrow. More than 28 million people around the country - about 20% of eligible voters - have already cast their ballots, either in person, by mail, or by depositing them at official drop boxesas. Democrats have outvoted Republicans by a 2-1 margin in early voting, so far. For Maryland voters, tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 20) is the deadline to request a mail-in ballot online for the November election. Tom's first guest today is Nikki Charlson. She’s the Deputy Administrator at the Maryland State Board of Elections. She joins us on Zoom to explain what Maryland voters need to know about mail-in balloting, early in-person voting and election-day balloting...President Trump, Attorney General Bill Barr and a long list of Republican political leaders have been warning for months that the heavy reliance on mail-in balloting because of the pandemic this election season is inviting massive voter fraud. As a result, the President has said, the election results might not be legitimate. Tom's next guest is Lily Hay Newman, a senior writer at WIRED Magazine, covering information security, digital privacy, and hacking. Her piece in this month’s WIRED -- called How We’ll Know the Election Wasn’t Rigged -- shows that fraud is the last thing absentee voters need to worry about. Lily Hay Newman joins Tom on Zoom…In a remarkable break with norms and traditions, President Trump has repeatedly suggested that he might not accept the results of the November 3rd election. Such a scenario has raised widespread alarm that the prospects of a peaceful transfer of presidential power and the democratic process itself could be threatened.In response, a broad array of more than 100 grassroot groups, from Indivisible to Move On.org and Republicans for Rule of Law have formed a coalition they call Protect the Results. It’s mobilizing thousands of people to counter any illegitimate challenges to the election outcome. One of the leaders of the coalition is Sean Eldridge, the founder and executive director of Stand Up America, a pro-democracy and voting rights group. He is Tom's final guest today, and he joins us on Zoom.If you still have questions about how to vote, and about some of the candidates and issues on the ballot, come to WYPR.ORG and check out our WYPR Voting Guide.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.