The Daily Valet. - 9/23/20, Wednesday

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Wednesday, September 23rd Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Did everyone check to make sure they’re registered to vote yesterday? Good.

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today's edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

More Mail-In Voting Drama

The trouble with ‘naked ballots,’ lawsuits and glossy mailers

It’s been long stipulated that Pennsylvania could be a crucial battleground state in this year’s presidential contest, reports Intelligencer. And already, it’s become an important state in the pre-election legal maneuvering over voting procedures.

Pennsylvania (like Michigan and Wisconsin) prohibits any sort of mail ballot processing prior to Election Day. Historically, only about 5% of Pennsylvanians have voted by mail as the state had required an excuse to vote absentee. According to Axios, this year marks the first time that the state has adopted no-excuse absentee voting, so many will be voting by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic for the first time.

Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court handed down a complex set of rulings that extended the deadline for mail ballots to be returned and ruled that voters can use drop boxes to return them but rejects naked ballots, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. (The state requires voters to place their ballots in an unmarked “secrecy” envelope before placing that inside another mailing envelope.)

Polls have found that more Democrats than Republicans plan to vote by mail, so thrown-out "naked ballots" are more likely to be cast for Joe Biden. President Trump carried Pennsylvania by just 44,000 votes in 2016.

But it's not all good news for the Trump campaign. A federal judge in Nevada has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the state’s new vote-by-mail law, saying the campaign failed to show how it could be harmed by the law. And law firm linked to defending Kanye West's presidential bid, was found sending pro-Donald Trump mailers to swing-state voters.

Not to mention, the President's comments on election fraud could be undercutting the party's own vote-by-mail campaign. Republicans are lagging behind Democrats in requesting mail ballots in North Carolina and elsewhere, reports the New York Times. “If Trump loses this election it could very well be because he attacked vote by mail,” one longtime Republican operative said.

↦ FYI: New state polls show a Biden landslide and a narrow Trump win are both possible.

Sounding the COVID-19 Alarms

Over the last week, new confirmed cases are up 19% over the week before

Coronavirus deaths in the U.S. have now surpassed 200,000, reports CNBC. The nation's caseload is growing especially in states in the middle of the country like Wisconsin, Montana and North Dakota.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers declared a new public health emergency on Tuesday. In-person social gatherings led to cases skyrocketing among people aged 18 to 24, Evers said, as he pleaded with students who returned to colleges for the fall semester to stay out of bars and wear masks.

The coming flu season and the arrival of cooler fall weather— which will no doubt, send many people indoors—have added to fears about another surge of cases. Especially as pandemic fatigue sets in.

Meanwhile in Europe, the Associated Press reports that Britain is working to draw up new restrictions, Spain is clamping down again in Madrid and the Czech Republic is replacing its health minister with an epidemiologist because of a surge of infections.

↦ FYI: According to the U.S Census Bureau, 200,000 is more than the number of Americans casualties from both World War I and the Vietnam War combined.

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The Time 100 Is Out

There’s never been a year like this ...

Time unveiled its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world on Tuesday. This is the 17th year that the magazine has compiled the list and it's safe to say that no one could've predicted this one.

There are, for example, a record number of doctors, nurses and scientists. Among them: German infectious-disease specialist Camilla Rothe, who helped document that this coronavirus could be transmitted by people without symptoms; Chinese researcher Zhang Yongzhen, who mapped in less than 40 hours the genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 and was the first to share it publicly.

Of course, Anthony Fauci is on the list too. Jimmy Kimmel praised Fauci, writing that the doctor “doesn’t sugarcoat his words and refuses to be pressured by politicians.”

Michaela Coel was named to the list. So was Megan Thee Stallion. And husband and wife Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union are there too—as examples of how parents (or just people) can be “allies to young people who are figuring out who they are.”

↦ Dig Deeper: The editors of Time explain how they chose their 100 people for a wild, unpredictable year like 2020.

General Mills Brings Back the Classics

It’s the closest thing we have to a time machine

Let's hear it for General Mills, who took a cold hard look at how low they've sunk and decided to return to the heyday of cereal-eating: Saturday mornings in the '80s.

On Tuesday, the brand announced that they're bringing back the retro recipes for four of its signature cereals: Cocoa Puffs, Golden Grahams, Cookie Crisp and Trix.

Had they changed much since our youth? They must have, because going back to the original recipes means more chocolate and more real honey, reports The Take Out. The kids today won't know what hit 'em.

Though this isn't probably for kids anyway. Remember a few years ago when the news hit that most Millennials weren't eating cereal because it was too much work? No, this is probably just a ploy to get us older folks to remember the thrill of eating what's essentially candy for breakfast. Well, it's 2020 and who knows what the future holds. A big bowl of Cookie Crisp might hit just right at 3 pm.

↦ FYI: Americans buy around 2.7 billion boxes of cereal each year.

In Other News

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Affordable furniture

Bad breath

Bill Murray at 70

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