In-person voting is safer than you think

In-person voting is actually fairly safe; the UK imposes a new national lockdown. Tonight's Sentences was written by Benjamin Rosenberg. TOP NEWS Voting in person is largely safe, assuming Covid-19 precautions are taken Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images - Millions of voters have chosen to cast their ballots by mail this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but voting in person is still a viable option. If people choose to vote in person, whether early or on Election Day, they should be able to do it safely despite the rising number of Covid-19 cases across the country. [[Vox / Dylan Scott](] - Health experts recommend requiring masks at polling locations, 6-foot spacing markers, separate entrances and exits, and plexiglass barriers between the voter and poll worker. Medical professionals also recommended waiting to vote outdoors, because the coronavirus spreads more easily indoors. Bringing hand sanitizer and voting at less busy times of day are recommended as well. [[CNN / Sandee LaMotte](] - Many states are also offering “curbside voting,” for people who want to vote in person but are concerned about entering their polling location. In Ohio’s Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, voters must bring someone with them to the polls to vote curbside. [[Cleveland.com / Courtney Astolfi](] - As of Monday morning, more than 94 million ballots have been cast already, representing more than two-thirds of the voting total from 2016. More than 34 million of those votes were cast in person. [[CNBC / Lauren Feiner](] - Democrats initially built large leads in early and mail-in voting, but Republicans have cut into those margins as Election Day nears. In Florida, one of the most important battleground states, Democrats held a 108,000-ballot lead as of Monday morning. [[South Florida Sun-Sentinel / Anthony Man and Aric Chokey](] - In-person ballots are more likely to be counted sooner than mailed ballots, though this will vary by state. Some states, such as Florida, allow election officials to count mail ballots before Election Day, while others, including Pennsylvania, do not. [[NYT / Trip Gabriel](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( A second lockdown begins in the UK as Covid-19 cases keep surging - The United Kingdom began a one-month lockdown on Monday as Covid-19 cases have risen to record levels — and Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it may not end there. The UK is seeing more than 20,000 daily new cases, and scientists say in a worst-case scenario, 80,000 Britons could be dead by the winter. [[Reuters / Andy Bruce](] - “With a virus this malignant, and with its capacity to move so quickly, it would be foolish to predict with absolute certainty what will happen in four weeks' time,” British cabinet minister Michael Gove said. “We’re always driven by what the data says.” [[AP / Jill Lawless](] - A former leader of Johnson’s Conservative Party accused the prime minister of “giving in to scientific advisers” in instituting the second lockdown. But his cabinet was advised that if he did not take action, the country’s medical bed capacity would run out by early December. [[CNN / Emma Reynolds, Luke McGee, and Arnaud Siad](] - Johnson, who had Covid-19 in the spring, requiring a stay in the ICU, said Monday that there was “no alternative” to a nationwide lockdown. “Unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at several thousand a day,” he said. [[NPR / Scott Neuman](] - New restrictions are also being imposed elsewhere in Europe. Bars and restaurants have an early curfew in Germany, and France and Belgium are on lockdown as well. US President Donald Trump has criticized the lockdowns, calling them “draconian.” [[CNN / Jason Hoffman, Devan Cole, and Daniel Dale](] MISCELLANEOUS The US will officially withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, which Trump has railed against for his entire presidency, on Wednesday — the day after Election Day. [[ABC News / Julia Jacobo](] - A conservative federal judge in Texas ruled Monday to dismiss an effort by plaintiffs to throw out roughly 127,000 ballots that were cast legally, via curbside voting, in Harris County — the state’s most populous county, and one that skews heavily Democratic. [[Vox / Ian Millhiser](] - Also in Texas, the FBI is investigating a Friday incident where a caravan of Trump supporters surrounded and followed a bus for Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign. Trump himself retweeted a portion of the video, commenting, “I LOVE TEXAS!” [[CBS News / Caroline Linton](] - Hurricane season is still going, and we are well into the Greek alphabet now. Hurricane Eta, which is headed toward Central America, grew Sunday night to a Category 4 storm and is expected to make landfall early Tuesday. [[CNN / Michael Guy, Hollie Silverman, and Judson Jones](] - At least 22 people have died and 22 more were wounded in an attack by the Islamic State on Kabul University in Afghanistan’s capital city. [[Washington Post / Susannah George and Sharif Hassan](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( VERBATIM “I think it’s relatively low risk, probably around going to a grocery store. In general, it’s an activity that’s amenable to social distancing. ... In general, I don’t think it’s a major risk.” [[Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, on in-person voting during the pandemic](] LISTEN TO THIS We’re one day away from the election, though who-knows-how-many days from finding out who won it. But there’s more at stake than whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden will be our next president. [[Spotify / Ezra Klein](] [Read more from Vox](#) [Why the vote count early on election night could be misleading]( [How the press calls elections, explained]( [Trump said he might fire Fauci after the election, but “don’t tell anybody”]( [If Trump won’t concede, these activists have a plan]( [Here’s how to check if your ballot was received and accepted]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Manage your [email preferences](, or [unsubscribe]( to stop receiving all emails from Vox. 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