An Evaporating $600 for Millions of Americans

Trump has mostly denied the overwhelming evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, and he has pushed back against reports that Moscow is trying to help him win again this year.

And since March, when the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, new uncertainties have taken hold. How will voters cast ballots in November? Will those who cannot vote in person — or who do not feel safe doing so — be able to cast ballots by mail?

And when the dust settles after Nov. 3, will both Trump and Joe Biden accept the official results?

Trump and his Republican allies have repeatedly claimed — with hardly any evidence — that voter fraud is a widespread problem in the United States, and that allowing mail voting could make it worse.

And last week, Trump refused to guarantee that he would accept the result of the election if he lost, an outcome that appears to be increasingly likely, according to national and swing-state polling.

As our reporter Katie Glueck wrote in one article, “The presidential race is now not simply a fight over character, competence or even vicious personal attacks, but is also about one of the fundamental pillars of American democracy: free and fair elections, and faith in the outcome.”

If, by Dec. 14, enough states have not certified their election results to give one candidate 270 Electoral College votes, the election could be thrown to the House of Representatives — where each state’s delegation would count for one vote, giving Republicans the advantage.

This prospect starts to appear at least somewhat plausible when we look at the way Georgia’s primary election played out on June 9. Our reporters Danny Hakim, Reid J. Epstein and Stephanie Saul conducted a thorough investigation.