Super Civics 2020: Voting during a Pandemic | PBS NewsHour

Directions: Read the news summary, watch the video and answer the discussion questions. The video has been edited for length. To watch the video in its entirety or read the transcript, click here.

Summary: With just six months until November’s presidential election, states across the U.S. are trying to determine how to safely collect and count ballots during a national health emergency. After the primary elections held in early April led to 40 COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin and problems in other states, state leaders worked to implement better strategies to the voting crisis. On Tuesday, the first major in-person elections were held in more than a month in Nebraska (one of eight states to never issue a statewide stay-at-home order), Wisconsin and California.

The elections helped test out mail-in voting for November. While dozens of states allow mail-in ballots or absentee voting, some states are more restrictive than others, leading to a patchwork of coronavirus election plans. Pro-mail-in ballots versus in-person voting have been battling it out state by state, raising questions over health, voter fraud and economic issues.

May 13th, 2020 video and resource materials from PBS NewsHour.

Check out our Daily News Story collection, or find more at PBS NewsHour Extra.