After months of hard work, complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, a bipartisan, diverse group of scholars and leaders has released a new report on IMMEDIATE steps that need to be taken in law, media, politics, and tech to avoid a November election meltdown. #FairElectionCrisis /1
Fair Elections During a Crisis: Urgent Recommendations in Law, Media, Politics, and Tech to Advance the Legitimacy of, $ the Public’s Confidence in, the Nov. 2020 U.S. Elections, details 14 URGENT recommendations. Available here: law.uci.edu/2020ElectionRe… #FairElectionsCrisis /2
Here is the context in which we prepared the report: #FairElectionsCrisis /3 
After a @UCILaw conference, Can American Democracy Survive the 2020 Elections, an ad hoc committee made up of diverse leading scholars and thinkers met to tackle the issue of assuring 2020 election fairness from an interdisciplinary perspective. #FairElectionsCrisis /4
The idea was to get leaders in law, tech, media, and politics and norms in the same room and think about what it would take not only for a fair election but also one that would enjoy widespread acceptance even in this hyperpolarized era. #FairElectionsCrisis /5
After we met for a day, which was at the end of February, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the US hard. And so while honed our recommendations, we realized we needed to expand and rework many of them to deal with how the pandemic would affect election legitimacy. #FairElectionsCrisis /6
The American election system is under tremendous stress, and if nothing is done we face a potential political crisis on top of the health and economic crises brought on by COVID-19. #FairElectionsCrisis /7
I'm confident that the Report’s specific, actionable recommendations—carefully crafted by scholars and leaders from across disciplines and the political spectrum—can advance both the actual fairness of the 2020 U.S. elections and public confidence in them. #FairElectionsCrisis /8
A key recommendation is that media educate the public about how election counts may take longer than past years and vote margins may change during the count as election officials process large numbers of mail ballots in key states such as PA and M.I #FairElectionsCrisis /9
But in order to assure fairness and legitimacy in Election 2020, it will take the actions of social media companies, local government officials, nonprofit groups, elected officials, election administrators, and others. Here are the 14 recommendations: #FairElectionsCrisis /10
There were many more things some of us wanted to do, and some for the longer term. But we remained laser focused on this Committee on TRIAGE: what can we do to help prevent a November election meltdown? #FairElectionsCrisis /25
It is our hope that these recommendations will spur conversations among members of the media, social media companies, election administrators, elected officials, and public leaders about how to preserve our democracy during this pandemic and crisis. #FairElectionsCrisis /26
Here are members of the Committee on Twitter (that I know of--many not on twitter): @julia_azari, @Nedfoley @lizlhoward @davidakaye @jacklerner @michaelmorley11 @JNelsonLDF @BrendanNyhan @NormOrnstein @persily @alexstamos @cstewartiii @ProfCiara #FairElectionsCrisis /28
Thanks for the tremendous support of @UCILaw and its dean @LSongRichardson; the @UCIrvine Peltason Center for the Study of Democracy, and the funders of this project: The Democracy Fund, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Mertz Gilmore Foundation. #FairElectionsCrisis /29
It was not easy to get such a diverse group to agree to these far-reaching URGENT recommendations, even as some members of the committee contracted COVID. But now the hard work begins. Please read the report, and thanks! law.uci.edu/2020ElectionRe… #FairElectionsCrisis 30/30
We have now posted a mobile-friendly a bite-sized version of the recommendations in our report, Fair Elections During a Crisis. It will look excellent on your mobile device (and download the full pdf for details when you are ready). law.uci.edu/2020ElectionRe… #FairElectionsCrisis
