Wake up with the Washington Examiner: Voter rolls, immunity shot, and Democrats keep debating options

How voters got to the polls might have been as important as who they voted for in 2020 , when an all-time high 155 million ballots were cast in the presidential election. Then-President Donald Trump received the second-highest number of votes ever, at 74 million. President Joe Biden , of course, received the single highest total, picking up more than 81 million votes.

The strange nature of the COVID-19-struck world likely contributed to the explosion in turnout. Voters on the fringes might have been more engaged than they normally would without regular activities to distract them from the contours of the campaign. And new rules in a slew of states that opened the door to larger early voting windows, more options to vote via mail, and exceptions to rules about “ballot harvesting” all played central roles in Trump and Republicans’ attempts to cry foul at the outcome.

Most of those fights have been litigated and resolved in the last four years despite the continued insistence by a loud handful of Republican voters and officials that the 2020 contest was wrought with fraud.

Today, Breaking News Reporter Jack Birle took a look at a handful of new fights taking place in pivotal states for Biden and Trump this time around.

“ Voter registration and canvassing laws are hotly contested any year, but with the presidential election looming, the election rules are coming under increased scrutiny in key swing states,” Jack wrote for us this morning. “Recent contentious elections have seen an increase in challenges to voting law. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, the 2020 election saw a crescendo in fights over voting laws, including on voter registration and canvassing.”

Some of the fights put local officials and voters in awkward positions. Trump and the top party officials are coming around to loosening rules for voting. Their arguments have ranged, from the need to match Democratic voting power with their own to making sure they are simply taking advantage of every opportunity given to them.

But the fiercest election fights are moving away from allowing early and mail-in voting and to policing the process leading up to Election Day.

In Arizona, Republicans are battling to require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.

“A federal court blocked a provision of a state law, which would mandate proof of citizenship for voting in federal elections in the state, earlier this year, and it recently denied a bid to stay the injunction pending appeal,” Jack wrote. “The court has not blocked the proof of citizenship requirement for state elections.”

There are also several brewing fights over cleaning up voter rolls. Inflated rolls don’t necessarily mean there will be a spate of fraud — voters appearing on rolls doesn’t mean they are going to show up on Election Day — but officials are concerned lax rules about the lists might erode confidence in election officials.

Click here to read about the biggest fights in the most pivotal 2024 states.

The Supreme Court threw a wrench in special counsel Jack Smith’s plans to charge Trump with a range of crimes relating to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. On Monday, the justices determined in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines that all presidents are immune from prosecution for actions they take in their official capacity as the chief executive. However, the justices did leave the door open to the possibility of prosecuting a president if the government can meet an exacting standard.

“The ruling was a massive blow to Smith’s case, which could look like a shell of its former self once the lower courts have sifted through it to align it with the Supreme Court’s guidance,” Justice Reporter Ashley Oliver wrote this morning.

“The high court's majority divided presidential acts into three categories: official acts that are absolutely immune from prosecution, official acts that are presumptively immune from prosecution until the government can prove the prosecution would not threaten the authority of the executive branch, and unofficial acts, which can always be prosecuted,” Ashley wrote.

With new guidance about what Trump, in this case, can and can’t be charged with — demands the attorney general investigate supposed voter fraud and threatening to replace him if he didn’t were considered clear executive actions he was allowed to make as president — the future of Smith’s case is up in the air.

Perhaps most interesting was the court’s suggestion that Trump’s efforts to strong-arm then-Vice President Mike Pence into using his ceremonial position on Jan. 6 to overturn the election in favor of the president could have been outside the lines of Trump acting in his official capacity.

"The indictment’s allegations that Trump attempted to pressure the Vice President to take particular acts in connection with his role at the certification proceeding thus involve official conduct, and Trump is at least presumptively immune from prosecution for such conduct," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote. "The question then becomes whether that presumption of immunity is rebutted under the circumstances. It is the Government’s burden to rebut the presumption of immunity."

With only a handful of lines drawn, it isn’t clear how the criminal charges against Trump will move forward.

Click here to catch up on the other roadblocks the court’s decision poses for Smith.

Bouncing back from a debate performance like the one Biden had last week isn’t easy. The president has made the most of the situation, cutting a new campaign ad painting the disaster as an opportunity to show his resilience. And he has the support of his family, confidants, and the election calendar.

Replacing Biden as the party’s nominee has been a topic of debate for months as incessant questions about his age and physical and mental fitness have swirled. But, as White House Reporter Naomi Lim wrote this morning, “Democrats hoping to replace President Joe Biden as their party's nominee after last week's debate may be running out of time, money, and options.”

“Not only are Democrats poised to nominate their standard-bearer through a virtual roll call as early as this month before their August convention , even if the party could coalesce around a replacement mere months before November's election , it would encounter fundraising and organizing disadvantages compared to former President Donald Trump ,” she continued.

Besides operating in a tight window — the virtual roll call to nominate Biden could happen as early as July 21 — there is the problem of cash. The Biden-Harris team is rolling in donations, but if Biden were to bow out and Harris followed him out the door, the campaign war chest couldn’t be transferred to another candidate. It would have to go through the Democratic National Committee or a super PAC.

Trump might have erased the cash advantage Biden has held for most of the campaign, but Democrats run the risk of putting someone up against Trump with essentially $0 in the bank, Biden deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty warned in a recent email blast.

"Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee," Flaherty wrote. "Voters voted. He won overwhelmingly. And if he were to drop out, it would lead to weeks of chaos, internal food fighting, and a bunch of candidates who limp into a brutal floor fight at the convention, all while Donald Trump has time to speak to American voters uncontested."

"All of that would be in service of a nominee who would go into a general election in the weakest possible position with zero dollars in their bank account," he said. "You want a highway to losing? It's that. And at the end of the day, we'd switch to candidates who would, according to polls, be less likely to win than Joe Biden — the only person ever to defeat Donald Trump."

Click here to read more about the troubles facing Democrats doubtful about Biden’s future.

If it seems like there are fewer corner drug stores in your hometown the next time you visit your family, you aren’t just struggling to remember the bygone past. Thousands of Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid stores have shuttered, or are going to close, in recent years.

Economics Reporter Zachary Halaschak looked at the phenomenon for us.

“This past week, the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, the holding company that owns the drug store Walgreens, announced that the company is planning to shutter a large number of its roughly 8,600 stores across the United States,” Zachary wrote.

“Additionally, Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy in October and had about 2,000 stores at the time but is expected to emerge from Chapter 11 with only 1,300 locations remaining. CVS has also closed up shop at hundreds of locations since 2019,” he wrote.

The struggles for drug stores are as varied as the products they’re struggling to sell.

Inflation has been a scourge for politicians trying to convince voters the country is moving in the right direction after the depths of the pandemic. Higher prices at the pump and bigger grocery bills are more immediate markers for most people than messaging about the GDP or interest rates.

“Since January 2021, inflation has surged more than 19%, according to the consumer price index, making life much less affordable for shoppers,” Zachary wrote.

Besides price increases across the board, drug stores like Walgreens struggle to stay competitive with online retailers like Amazon or warehouse powerhouse Costco.

And crime? Yes, that’s a problem, too.

“In recent years, videos have proliferated on social media of individual thieves and hordes of criminals brazenly entering stores and stealing merchandise before fleeing, often with little resistance. The phenomenon grew during the pandemic,” he wrote.

Click here to learn more about the plight of the corner store.

Congressional Reporter Rachel Schilke rounds up Democrats in hot water for dodging questions about Biden's future.

Senate Reporter Ramsey Touchberry runs down vulnerable Senate Democrats who aren't criticizing Biden.

White House Reporter Haisten Willis looks at how Biden is trying to use the Supreme Court's immunity decision to his advantage.

Investigative Reporter Gabe Kaminsky dives into the government's partnerships with contractors behind anti-Israel boycotts.

The Supreme Court is done releasing opinions, but we will get our first look at arguments the justices are prepared to hear next term when orders are released at 9:30 a.m.

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will hold a briefing at 2:30 p.m.

Biden will participate in a campaign reception in McLean, Virginia, at 5:15 p.m.