CARSON CITY, Nev. -- The Electoral College meets today, and Nevada's six electoral votes are set to go to President-elect Joe Biden, despite attempts by the Trump campaign to overturn the results.

The process is a reminder that when voters go to the polls, they're not voting for president, but for a slate of electors who gather in December to vote in the Electoral College.

The number of electoral votes a state has depends on its population. And 32 states including Nevada have laws on the books that require electors to vote how the state votes.

David Damore, professor of political science at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, said they can't change that.

"Basically, you can't be a faithless elector," Damore explained. "In Nevada, you have to vote with the popular vote winner, which in this case, obviously, it was Joe Biden here."

Biden beat President Donald Trump by more than 30,000 votes in the Silver State, or just over 2%, a similar margin to 2016, when Hillary Clinton carried Nevada. There was much higher turnout this cycle. Nearly 300,000 more Nevadans voted than last time.

Nevada election officials have been the target of unsuccessful lawsuits from the Trump campaign, alleging voter fraud and election mismanagement without evidence.

All registered voters received ballots in the mail for the first time, and by design, vote-by-mail slows down the counting process.

Damore noted that gave the Trump campaign time to stoke confusion. But Biden got 7 million more votes than the president nationwide, and he's set to win by 74 electoral votes.

"You have to win less populated states that take up big parts of the map," Damore observed. "And that's what Biden did that Clinton didn't do four years ago by taking those, the upper Midwest states."

After electors cast their ballots in state houses today, they'll be sent to Vice President Pence in Washington. And on Jan. 6, the votes will be read and counted in Congress.

In 2019, Gov. Steve Sisolak vetoed a bill that would bring Nevada into the National Popular Vote Compact. Fifteen other states have joined. The compact needs 74 more electoral votes to reach 270, the minimum needed to win the presidency.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.


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INDIANAPOLIS -- Voting-rights advocates applaud this week's federal appeals-court decision to prevent Indiana from purging some voters from the rolls without notifying them first. However, they said there is more work to do to ensure everyone has access to a ballot.

Two Indiana state laws, Senate Bill 442 in 2017 and Senate Bill 334 in 2020, aimed to remove a voter's registration if it appears they'd registered in another state.

Barbara Bolling-Williams, Indiana state conference president for the NAACP, said neither held up in court, because they violated the National Voter Registration Act.

"The federal act requires that there is contact with the voter, you know, to say, 'It appears that you're registered in Ohio, is that you? Have you moved to Ohio; are you no longer going to be registered to vote here in Indiana?'" Bolling-Williams explained.

If a voter does not respond, officials need to give notice that the person is set to be removed from the rolls, and then wait two federal election periods.

Bolling-Williams pointed out other policies, like same-day registration, have increased access in other states, but Indiana's voter registration period ends 30 days before Election Day.

Legal battles around voter purges and other laws to restrict voting access, especially for historically marginalized communities, are not unique to Indiana.

As of July 14, 18 states had passed 30 laws in 2021 alone, making it harder to vote, according to the
Brennan Center for Justice. Proponents argued they are meant to prevent fraud, but Bolling-Williams countered lawmakers are not taking voters' needs into account.

"In this climate of not wanting people to vote, basically, we understand that if everybody has an opportunity to vote, then the will of the people will reign, and not the dictatorship of a few," Bolling-Williams contended.

Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., and Sen Todd Young, R-Ind., were among those who blocked federal legislation, the "For the People Act," which would have prevented many of the new, more restrictive state laws from going into effect.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Redistricting reformers urged the people charged with drawing new voting-district maps in Missouri to commit to putting the voters over partisan interests.

Gov. Mike Parson has appointed a bipartisan group of commissioners to draw state legislative maps. The Legislature draws congressional maps.

Caroline Fan, founder and president of the Missouri Asian American Youth Foundation, said in the past, map-making has been done out of the public eye. She wants to see more transparency this year, and stressed one crucial piece is listening to local residents about what matters to them. It could be a common place of worship, a school district, a race or ethnicity.

"This is our opportunity as Missourians to kind of hit 'refresh,'" Fan contended. "And if certain areas have grown, other areas have shrunk, to make sure that everyone is well represented, and that we have fair maps."

Fan added map-drawing tools are far more accessible now than 10 years ago, the last time new districts were created, which means it is much easier for residents to have a say in the process, by laying out their recommendations and submitting them to the commission at public hearings.

Missouri House and Senate commissioners have six months to agree on a set of new voting district maps before a judicial panel takes over. Fan emphasized the importance of community input.

"Even these communities that might only make up 2% of the state's population, it's still really important that all of these communities are heard," Fan asserted. "And particularly because some of these communities are really growing."

Block-by-block census data crucial for redistricting is normally available by April 1 the year following the census. But this year, it was delayed due to the pandemic and efforts by the Trump administration; first to add a citizenship question to the census and then, to exclude undocumented people in determining the number of representatives each state gets.

Parson is among a group of Republican governors calling on the Census Bureau to release the data as soon as possible.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

TILLAMOOK, Ore. -- Like other infrastructure needs, the widening gap in internet access is affecting people across the country.

In the spirit of New Deal initiatives during the Great Depression, the nonprofit Lead for America has started the American Connection Corps. In 2021, the program is training fellows in 12 states, including Oregon.

Benya Kraus, co-founder of Lead for America and director of the American Connection Corps, said in both Tillamook and Morrow counties, where the Oregon fellows will serve, there is a need for infrastructure in hard-to-reach places, and also reaching out to people.

"We're, from the get-go, thinking about digital inclusion and literacy and making sure that it's not just about the build-out," Kraus explained. "It's actually about making sure that people know how to use it and have access to the devices and the costs that would allow them to be able to participate in the digital economy."

To date, the American Connection Corps has placed more than 100 fellows in 26 states. Oregon ranks 34th in the nation in access to broadband, according to the website BroadbandNow.

Kraus noted one important component of the fellowship is choosing people in their hometowns or who are moving back to their hometowns. She added the program's training focuses on solving challenges and building relationships.

"There's a lot of purpose and personal meaning that is fulfilled when you live your life in deep relationship to your place, to people, to the commitments to those people and places," Kraus contended.

With people stuck at home during the pandemic, the digital divide was in stark relief. However, Kraus emphasized underserved families across the country have known and lived with the issue for a long time.

"But I do think COVID has brought on this greater urgency now to get creative between public and private partnerships and nonprofit partners like us, too," Kraus remarked. "How can we team up together to solve one of the most pressing challenges our country is facing?"