Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 8-16-19

White House
Analysis Shows 12% Could Vote Without Paper Backup In 2020
Recession Warnings Pose 2020 Threat To Trump
A study released by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law on Tues- day evaluates the state of the country's electionsecurity six months before the New Hampshire primary and con- cludes that much more needs to be done. While there has been significant progress by states and the federal govern- ment since Russian agents targeted U. S. state election systems ahead of the 2016 presidential election, the analysis notes that many states have not taken all of the steps needed to ensure that doesn't happen again.
The report also notes that around a third of all local election jurisdictions were using voting machines that are at least a decade old, de- spite recommendations they be replaced after 10 years. The Associated Press re- ported last month that many election systems are running on old Windows 7 software that will soon be outdated.
"We should replace anti- quated equipment, and pa- perless equipment in particular, as soon as possi- ble," the report recommends.
The analysis comes as Con- gress is debating how much federal government help is needed to ensure state elec- tion systems are protected. Democrats have put forward legislation to require paper balloting, give more assis- tance to the states and give them more money to make improvements. But some Re- publicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are wary of too much federal intervention and have said no more fund- ing is needed.
Using voter registration and turnout data, the Bren- nan Center estimates that as many as 12% of voters, or around 16 million people, will vote on paperless equip- ment in November 2020. Se- curity experts have said that paper-based systems provide
better security because they create a record that voters can review before casting their ballots and election workers can use them to audit results.
Still, the number repre- sents an improvement from 2016, when 20 percent of voters cast ballots on paper- less equipment. In the last presidential election, 14 states used paperless voting machines as the primary polling place equipment in at least some counties and towns. In 2020, the Brennan Center estimates, that num- ber will drop to no more than eight.
The states that could still have some paperless ballot- ing are Indiana, Kansas, Ken- tucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, Mississippi, Texas and Tennessee.
PRESIDENT TRUMP
Fears that a recession could hit the U. S. next year are growing on Wall Street, creating a potential headache for President Trump as he seeks to highlight the econ- omy in his bid for a second term.
Economists at Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Moody’s Analytics in the past few days all raised concerns that a recession between now and next year’s elections is becoming more likely. And they all pointed the finger of blame at Trump’s trade pol- icy.
“I think recession is in- creasingly likely,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at
Moody’s Analytics, said on Monday. “I’d put the odds at just over even for a recession between now and the end of 2020, assuming the presi- dent follows through on his tariff threats.”
His remarks came a day after Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, said the trade war with China is likely to hurt U. S. growth more than previously fore- cast.
“Fears that the trade war will trigger a recession are growing,” he said in are- search note.
Two days earlier, Bank of America economists said the chances of a recession had risen from 20 percent to about 33 percent, adding that "our model likely does not fully capture the threat of U. S.-China trade tensions spi- raling into a more severe trade war, which we view as the biggest downside risk for the U. S. economy.”
“We are worried,” they wrote in their analysis.
PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019