MORT'S MUSINGS

Study: No partisan benefit from mail voting in 2020 election By NICHOLAS RICCARDI March 5, 2021 https://apnews.com/.../donald-trump-coronavirus-pandemic... Donald Trump last year publicly worried that the explosion in voting by mail during the pandemic would increase turnout so much that “ you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again .” But a new study shows the record rates of mail voting in 2020 didn’t help Democrats or lead to an increase in voting. The research is only the latest in a years-long number of studies finding no partisan benefit to mail voting. But it also draws the conclusion that making it easier to vote did not increase voting levels because voters were already highly motivated to participate in the 2020 contest. “We find a pretty precisely zero effect on turnout,” said Jesse Yoder, one of the study’s authors and a Ph.D. student in political science at Stanford University. “Voter interest was really driving turnout more than these convenience vot

FACT CHECKS This series will focus upon fact checks done by recognized and reputable sources Washington Post Mar. 2, 2021 “Capitol Police requested National Guard help prior to January 6th. That request was denied by Speaker Pelosi and her Sergeant at Arms.” — Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), in a tweet, Feb. 15, 2021 The Facts There are three key players here: Steven A. Sund, the U.S. Capitol Police chief; Paul D. Irving, the House sergeant-at-arms, and Michael C. Stenger, the Senate sergeant-at-arms. All three resigned under pressure after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Without evidence, Jordan asserted that House Speaker Pelosi had denied a request for National Guard troops two days before the insurrection. Instead, public testimony shows she did not even hear about the request until two days later. Jordan also tried to pin the blame on the House sergeant-at-arms, but testimony shows the Senate sergeant-at-arms also was not keen about the idea. We will keep an eye on this issue in case new

FACT CHECKS This series will focus upon fact checks done by recognized and reputable sources Washington Post Mar. 2. 2021 “I requested … I definitely gave the number of 10,000 National Guardsmen, and [said] I think you should have 10,000 of the National Guard ready. They took that number. From what I understand, they gave it to the people at the Capitol, which is controlled by Pelosi. And I heard they rejected it because they didn’t think it would look good. So, you know, that was a big mistake.” —Former president Donald Trump, in an interview with Steve Hilton of Fox News, Feb. 28, 2021 We’re going to try to have a high bar for fact checks of former president Donald Trump. His speech Sunday to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was mostly a replay of false claims he has said many times before, all documented in our Trump claims database. So we took a pass on that. But this is something new. Trump’s claim generated a lot of attention in right-leaning circles, espe