New Jersey making plans for all-VBM primary, officials say Murphy must decide by next week

New Jersey election officials are actively working on plans for primary election conducted entirely through vote-by-mail ballots, the New Jersey Globe has learned.

Five senior election officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity say that Gov. Phil Murphy will need to make a decision on the June New Jersey primary by early next week, if not sooner.

“If the governor doesn’t make the call by Tuesday or Wednesday, we might not be able to have an election on June 2,” one official said. “He might have to push the primary to later in June.”

Plans for an all-VBM primary election comes at a time when other states have postponed primaries scheduled for March, April and May to June 2. It’s possible that a Democratic presidential candidate cannot mathematically clinch the nomination until June 2 – something that makes the New Jersey primary theoretically relevant.

Another official cited the lead time on printing ballots and envelopes and the challenge of meeting the April 19 target date to send out VBM ballots.

Robert Giles, the director of the state Division of Elections, told officials in a conference call that he has identified out-of-state vendors to help with printed, if needed, an official said.

An all-VBM primary would mean that every unaffiliated voter, sometimes known as independents, would receive ballots for each party. New Jersey has nearly 2.4 million unaffiliated voters.




https://newjerseyglobe.com/governor/new-jersey-making-plans-for-all-vbm-primary-officials-say-murphy-must-decide-by-next-week/?link_id=27&can_id=dac358985389b02213a6db7cd2e8d66a&source=email-morning-digest-trump-declares-war-on-gop-congressman-who-held-up-coronavirus-bill&email_referrer=email_762976&email_subject=morning-digest-trump-declares-war-on-gop-congressman-who-held-up-coronavirus-bill

All Nebraska primary voters will be invited to vote by mail if they wish

All Nebraska registered voters will be mailed an application form that will allow them to vote in the May 12 primary election by mail or through a drop box if they prefer to avoid crowd contact that they would encounter by going to the polls.

But polling places will be open as usual and sanitized with provisions in place for separation of voters, Secretary of State Bob Evnen said Thursday.

Gov. Pete Ricketts encouraged voters to request an early ballot if they wish while recognizing that polling places will take "appropriate precautions" to protect voters who may wish to cast their votes in person on Election Day.

"The May 12 primary will go forward as planned," the governor said during his daily coronavirus press briefing. "It's important to hold elections … vital for our republic."




https://norfolkdailynews.com/news/all-nebraska-primary-voters-will-be-invited-to-vote-by/article_847e3619-1a52-5c96-ac04-28fdb2108a2c.html?link_id=26&can_id=dac358985389b02213a6db7cd2e8d66a&source=email-morning-digest-trump-declares-war-on-gop-congressman-who-held-up-coronavirus-bill&email_referrer=email_762976&email_subject=morning-digest-trump-declares-war-on-gop-congressman-who-held-up-coronavirus-bill

Coronavirus In Minnesota: All-Mail Ballot System Under Consideration For 2020 Elections

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Minnesota’s top election official said Thursday that the 2020 elections in the state “must go on” in Minnesota, even if the country is still grappling with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In a video statement, Secretary of State Steve Simon said his office is planning for a number of possibilities looking ahead toward November.

“Whatever option we use, we’ll do this thoughtfully and carefully,” he said. “No one should have to choose between their health and their right to vote.”

One option under consideration is an all-mail balloting system. In this scenario, each registered voter would be mailed a ballot, which would be filled out at home and returned by mail. Other states, such as Oregon, already do this.

“I’m looking to [those states], and their leaders, right now to figure out what components of that system to bring to Minnesota,” Simon said.

Another option would be for officials to encourage absentee voting under Minnesota’s current system. According to Simon, nearly a quarter of Minnesotans voted absentee in 2018.

Under this scenario, steps would be taken to lessen the threat that voters going to physical polling stations would contract the virus, Simon said. The steps include cutting down the number of polling places and removing them from vulnerable areas, such as senior care facilities.



https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/03/26/coronavirus-in-minnesota-all-mail-ballot-system-under-consideration-for-2020-elections/?link_id=25&can_id=dac358985389b02213a6db7cd2e8d66a&source=email-morning-digest-trump-declares-war-on-gop-congressman-who-held-up-coronavirus-bill&email_referrer=email_762976&email_subject=morning-digest-trump-declares-war-on-gop-congressman-who-held-up-coronavirus-bill

Oil prices plunge to 17-year lows as demand drop threatens to overwhelm storage facilities.

Global crude oil prices tanked Monday amid continued concerns over the coronavirus pandemic's impact on energy demand and the ongoing price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark dropped below $20 a barrel in Asian trading while Brent crude hit $23.03, its lowest price since 2002.

Both sets of futures regained some of their early losses in European trading hours but remain down. Brent crude is down 6.2% at $26.23 while WTI is down 5.7% at $20.21 as of 9.00 a.m. in London (4.00 a.m. ET).

"There is potential this could go even lower as supply starts to flood storage space which could fill in the next month as a result of the combination of higher supply from the price war and lower global demand," Joe Healey, Investment Research Analyst at The Share Centre said in a morning note.

The widespread lockdown across much of Europe and North America has seen demand plunge while traders estimate that the market is pumping out a surplus of around 25 million barrels per day.




https://www.businessinsider.com/crude-oil-prices-plunge-price-war-storage-and-coronavirus-fears-2020-3

43 people fall ill at Pentecostal church after revival, 10 test positive for coronavirus

Several members of an Illinois Pentecostal church are either at the hospital or in home quarantine after at least 43 congregants fell ill following a revival service two Sundays ago, and at least 10 of them have tested positive for the new coronavirus.

In a Facebook post Wednesday night, Layna LoCascio, wife of pastor Anthony LoCascio who leads The Life Church of Glenview, said at least 43 of the approximately 80 people who attended a March 15 service at their church have fallen ill and everyone who has been tested for the new coronavirus has come back positive for the virus which has already killed more than 1,470 and infected more than 97,000 people nationwide.

“We have 43 infected (at minimum) from our church or connected to our church from our last service on March 15th. They all haven’t tested but whoever gets a test done ends up being positive, and we all have the same symptoms. It’s just not easy. It’s especially not easy when you’re a leader and a pastor of a precious church and we all got infected together,” she wrote.

Church leaders said the meeting was held days before the governor’s stay-at-home order. However, it was after officials called for large public events to be scaled down to 1,000 people and for private ones to have a maximum 250 in attendance, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Pastor LoCascio told the Daily Herald that he had contemplated canceling the service initially but because the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the area was low he decided against it, particularly because they had a guest speaker coming and had been promoting the event for a while.



https://www.christianpost.com/news/43-people-fall-ill-at-illinois-pentecostal-church-after-revival-10-test-positive-for-coronavirus-235955/

ING bank suspends dividend payments due to coronavirus outbreak

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch banks ING (INGA.AS) said on Monday it would follow the advice of the European Central Bank (ECB) and suspend any payment of dividends until at least Oct. 1 in light of the global coronavirus outbreak.

The ECB told euro zone banks on Friday to skip dividend payments and share buybacks until the start of October at the earliest and to use capital instead to weather losses and to improve their ability to lend.

ING said it had taken its proposal for the dividend for 2019 off the agenda for its upcoming shareholders meeting and did not expect to pay an interim dividend over 2020.

Any announcement on further dividend payments would be reviewed after Oct. 1, the bank said.





https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-netherlands-ing-gr-idUSKBN21H0J9?taid=5e81a6909a7fcd0001c4950f&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

Trump camp targets Obama's Ebola czar

Joe Biden has had limited success with his live-from-Wilmington, Del., coronavirus briefings. His longtime adviser, Ron Klain, is a different story.

The nation’s former Ebola czar recently cut a video for the Biden campaign making an animated case against Donald Trump’s handling of the contagion — a white board presentation that racked up 4.4 million views on Twitter alone.

Now, the president’s reelection campaign is drawing a bead on Klain.


Over the past week, the president’s allies have trained their fire on him, seeking to undermine his credibility and use Klain’s high-profile role as the face of Biden’s coronavirus response to bolster their own arguments about Biden’s own competence.



https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/29/trump-campaign-joe-biden-ron-klain-153056

Bonus Tweet Of The Day

Michigan State Rep. Isaac Robinson dies at age 44

State Rep. Isaac Robinson (D-Detroit) has died. He was 44.

State Rep. Tyrone Carter (D-Detroit) confirmed the news Sunday evening to the Michigan Advance.

“He was my guy,” Carter said, adding that he was “young, smart and funny.”

Carter was the first state lawmaker to announce he tested positive for the coronavirus. He said he’s “out of the woods” and feeling better.Carter said he hadn’t seen Robinson for three or four weeks. He had been trying to call Robinson and last received a text on Thursday. Robinson was excused from the last House session on March 17. That lasted around 12 hours as lawmakers negotiated a COVID-19 supplemental spending bill.




https://www.michiganadvance.com/2020/03/29/rep-isaac-robinson-dies-at-age-44/

Florida Megachurch Packed with Worshipers During Coronavirus Pandemic

This is the clear and present danger ... people continuing to congregate -- squeezing into close quarters like sardines -- and that's exactly what happened Sunday at a Florida Church.

The River Church in Tampa was packed to the gills with worshipers who clearly were looking for hope. Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, who presides over the megachurch and has been reportedly defiant over social distancing, has claimed he'll cure coronavirus just the way he did with Zika.

The Pastor has peddled ridiculous theories in the past, but this takes the cake.

The scariest part ... all these people showed up elbow-to-elbow. If they contract the disease, they are the ones most likely to spread it, because they are clearly not practicing or understanding social distancing.



https://www.tmz.com/2020/03/29/chruch-service-florida-coronavirus-worship/