A jarring new report from The Atlantic claims that the Trump campaign is discussing potential strategies to circumvent the results of the 2020 election, should Joe Biden defeat Donald Trump, by first alleging the existence of rampant fraud and then appointing electors in battleground states where Republicans maintain a legislative majority, whom Trump would ask to bypass the state’s popular vote and instead to choose electors loyal to the GOP and the sitting president.

The Atlantic report claims that sources in the Republican Party at the local and national levels confirm “the Trump campaign is discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors” in red battleground states.

“The push to appoint electors would be framed in terms of protecting the people’s will,” an unnamed Trump-campaign legal adviser tells The Atlantic, adding, “The state legislatures will say, ‘All right, we’ve been given this constitutional power. We don’t think the results of our own state are accurate, so here’s our slate of electors that we think properly reflect the results of our state.’”

The chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party says, on the record, that he has discussed appointing loyal electors with the Trump campaign: "It is one of the available legal options set forth in the Constitution.”

Donald Trump would have received 303 electoral votes, a reduction of just three from the 306+ he actually won. That might seem surprising since Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. There's a second factor at work here, which is the margin of victory in each state. If we look at the states gaining the most using population, the ones Clinton won were by a much larger margin than those won by Trump. California gained 10 electoral votes, New York 5. Clinton won these by 30% and 23%, respectively. On the other hand, Trump won Texas, which gained 6, by 9%, and Florida, which gained 4, by just 1%.

In terms of electoral votes, winning a state by a huge margin is no better than winning by a very small one, and so, in a sense, all those extra actual votes cast for Clinton are not helpful in this framework. For those that favor a national popular vote, the methodology described on this page would likely not be a satisfactory alternative.

Background: Each state receives electoral votes equal to the size of its congressional delegation. That delegation is comprised of two Senators and one Representative for each congressional district in the state. The number of congressional districts is fixed at 435, with the districts reapportioned* across the 50 states, based on population, after each Census. Each state must have at least one congressional district, leaving 385 districts to be allocated by a mathematical formula. (The next Census will take place in 2020, with any changes in electoral votes being effective with the 2024 presidential election.

The above rules mean no state can have fewer than three electoral votes or, put another way, 385 electoral votes are allocated based on population, with 153 (including three for the District of Columbia) essentially fixed. The net effect of this is that smaller population states are overrepresented in the Electoral College, while larger states are underrepresented.

Police cars revolving lightBREAKING: North Carolina agrees via guidance/ consent decree:

White heavy check markCount ballots postmarked by E-Day/received by 11/12.
White heavy check markAdopt a cure process for rejected absentees
White heavy check markEstablish VBM drop-off stations

Victory for @MajorityFwd, @RedistrictFdn and NC voters.

A job done better than anyone has ever seen before.

Trump said that a final...death toll...in the range of 100,000 to 200,000...would indicate...his administration has “done a very good job.”

https://vox.com/2020/3/30/21199586/us-coronavirus-deaths-trump-200000-good-job

Biden currently holds a significant advantage in 7 counties where the vote margins were closest in the 2016 presidential election. The Democrat has a 60% to 33% lead among registered voters in these swing counties* where Clinton won the aggregate vote by a single point. Biden also racks up a sizable 63% to 34% margin in counties that went solidly for Clinton by a similar 27 points in 2016. Trump leads in the counties he won handily (60% to 33%), also by a similar 26 points four years ago.

Looking at regional strength another way, Biden currently has a 29-point lead (63% to 34%) in the 3-county southeast coastal portion of the state. He also has a small 6-point edge (50% to 44%) in central Florida. Trump leads in the rest of the state by 9 points (51% to 42%). In 2016, Clinton won the southeast by 28 points, but Trump won central Florida by less than a percentage point. He also won the remainder of the state by 19 points.

Also, 63% of voters plan to vote for changing the state’s primary system for state and local offices to an open “jungle” format where the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation. Just 21% oppose this.

CAIRO — Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed more than two dozen ancient coffins in a vast necropolis south of Cairo, an official said Monday.

The sarcophagi have remained unopened since they were buried more than 2,500 years ago near the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, said Neveine el-Arif, a spokeswomen for the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. She said 13 coffins were found earlier this month in a newly discovered, 36 feet well, and that 14 more were found last week in another well.

Footage shared by the ministry showed colorful sarcophagi decorated with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, as well as other artifacts the ministry said were found in the two wells.

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Archaeologists were still working to determine the origins of the coffins, el-Arif said, adding that more details and “secrets” would likely be announced next month.