CNN: “The 2020 presidential election truly kicks off Friday as North Carolina begins mailing the first ballots to more than 618,000 voters who requested them, marking the start of an eight-week sprint to November that will test the nation’s ability to hold elections during a global pandemic. The election has already been marred by a steady stream of misinformation from President Donald Trump, who this week encouraged supporters in North Carolina to vote twice as a way of testing anti-fraud safeguards. His comments immediately threw officials and experts into overdrive, forcing them to issue warnings that casting multiple ballots is a criminal offense.”
“With ballots now getting sent out, local officials have initiated the first step of the vote-by-mail process. Ballots should start arriving in the next two weeks, and voters can then fill them out and send them back, either by dropping them in the mail or bringing them to an election office. Millions of registered voters across the country have already requested mail ballots. This astronomical increase from 2016 reflects the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which triggered historic interest in mail-in voting options that keep people away from polling places.”