Trevor Potter Speaks to NBC News on Coronavirus Disrupting Elections

State officials nationwide are scrambling to adjust to stay-at-home and social distancing orders as they plan the 2020 voting calendar, and many experts warn that the pandemic threatens to be highly disruptive to this year's elections.

"There's a real possibility that people will be afraid to vote on Election Day and won't have alternatives," said Trevor Potter, a former chairman of the Federal Elections Commission who now heads the Campaign Legal Center in Washington. "That's just unacceptable for the world's leading democracy."

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"We don't know where things are going to be in November," Potter said. "But we could be experiencing a second wave of the virus, and state election officials need to be preparing for that right now."

Among the challenges: far greater demand for printing, distributing and counting mail-in ballots, as well as finding enough people to act as poll workers on Election Day.

"The question is, will they have the resources to do what needs to be done, and will they get the authority they need from their state legislatures?" Potter said.

Trevor Potter is also a Member of the Political Law Group at Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered.

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