Author Archive

Laura Ellyn Smith

Dr. Laura Ellyn Smith gained her Ph.D. in U.S. History, which focused on Andrew Jackson's re-election campaign in 1832, from the University of Mississippi. At St. Anne's College, Oxford she is now undertaking a second doctorate, a History DPhil analyzing the U.S. imperial presidency, whilst teaching U.S. race relations and politics at Canterbury Christ Church University.

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States, questions concerning American voters’ ability to cast their ballots safely in person on 3 November became increasingly urgent this election season. Despite his own record of voting by mail, President Trump has frequently attacked mail-in voting, making unfounded claims about the potential for fraud and playing favorites to suggest its validity only in states with Republican governors like Florida. Depicting vote by mail as a Democratic tactic to steal his re-election, Trump’s campaign even filed an ultimately dismissed suit in battleground Nevada to stop the state from sending absentee ballots out to all active voters. However, mail-in voting has historically not been such a partisan issue. Even now, Fox News …