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title: "Election SOS: You Got This"
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Critical election week support, including First Aid Kits, physical safety checklists, and more.

| View in browser We help journalists cover elections. The Election SOS newsletter is a dedicated resource for journalists covering the 2020 election. We provide critical resources to help with your coverage, safety and service.  Election Day Support Last week, we shared our First Aid Kit: Before Tuesday to provide you with the top resources and tools you need right now. Today, we offer an Election Day First Aid Kit with information on covering the polls, what do while you wait, and tailored advice for broadcast journalists.  READ NOW WATCH WEBINAR & GET SLIDES Physical Safety Checklists In addition to our Digital Safety Checklist with three steps to strengthen your digital security,  we also created Protest Safety Checklist and Protest Coverage Tips with advice for journalists on preparing for and covering protests safely.  DOWNLOAD NOW DOWNLOAD NOW Election SOS: Live Support Our Election SOS team of experts is here to support you. This week, we are readily available on Switchboard and Twitter to answer your questions and provide you with the resources needed. Take a few minutes to join Switchboard to browse other journalists' requests, ask a question, or offer help to fellow journalists. We are in it together! GET SUPPORT NOW Election SOS: Scenario Planning Guide If you haven't downloaded our scenario planning guide, it's not too late. Filled with tips, resources, tools, and critical questions, this is a must-read for any newsroom.  DOWNLOAD NOW Trusted Elections Expert  CONNECT NOW Pitch This Our pitch database is here to provide you with audience-first story ideas every day! Based on the week's progression, we'll continue providing you with timely story ideas.  MORE STORY IDEAS What we’re reading: Be patient on election night 2020. Counting the returns will take time - Poynter It’s time to let go of old ideas about how election night will work. This November, there’s a good chance we won’t have a clear winner in the wee hours of the morning. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many states are urging residents to vote by mail, and election officials are bracing for a more time-consuming ballot-counting process.   An Hour-by-Hour Guide to Election Night - WSJ Citing a surge of mailed ballots, numerous states have said they expect to need extra time to do their counting. The ballots pose challenges for election workers because they can involve manual processing, such as removing them by hand from envelopes and verifying them as valid before feeding them into counting machines. Processing of those ballots can’t start until Election Day in some states, including  Pennsylvania and Michigan. In other states, there might not be full results until days after Election Day. This is a guide for watching election results, based on East Coast times.   How foreign influence efforts are targeting journalists -The Washington Post After widespread analysis of disinformation tactics in the 2016 U.S. election and the 2017 French presidential election, among others, many analysts expected to see more of the same in 2020. New analysis in the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy’s latest report, “The New Weapon of Choice: Technology and Information Operations Today” notes these “hack-and-leak” operations would probably pose a significant risk in the 2020 elections.   Fear Of Voter Intimidation Is Its Own Voter Intimidation - FiveThirtyEight “There’s a danger in overplaying this risk and making it seem more dangerous than it actually is,” Cooter said. “In a way that could have a suppressive effect on desire to go vote.”   Safety Checklist for November This document is meant to help you take some precautions and map how you plan on acting, engaging, or abstaining from action in November. Remember: each of us has a different risk model, meaning that we all  know best what we can or can’t handle, have the capacity for, or expertise on. Reporting resources: This Network Monitors & De-Escalates Conflicts - Trust Network Mediators Beyond Borders International, or MBBI, recently launched a TRUST Network aimed at monitoring election risks. The non-partisan network’s Early Warning Early Response (EWER) system is made up of hundreds of volunteers that use “content analysis and digital mapping” to identify risks.   Federal Forces and the Election - Election SOS How will federal forces impact the election, if at all? The Center for Strategic & International Studies, a bipartisan think tank, published a detailed primer on the topic, including breakdowns of laws around when federal forces can be deployed and how they can be used. Read three key takeaways.     Where the Justice Department Will Be on Election Day - Election SOS The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division plans to deploy staff to 44 jurisdictions across 18 states Tuesday to monitor compliance with voting rights laws. Use this map to track where the Justice Department staff plan to be, which includes jurisdictions in several contested states.   US 2020 Dashboard: Live insights on information disorder - First Draft First Draft dashboard offers insights daily for an at-a-glance snapshot on what their investigative research team sees online. They are providing context and suggestions on how to proceed with the information for your audiences. Journalists can request access to @FD\_Update for more team insights. Election SOS Fellows Reporting Highlights:  Thanks to generous support from our funders, we've matched 39 fellows to support 20 newsrooms in battleground states. Check out the great work they're doing.    What if clerks run out of ballots? Here is the backup plan - Mikhayla Dunaj for the Detroit Free Press   What to expect on Election Day: Long lines due to social distancing, and a long wait for results - Nuha Dolby for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Election Relief: We got a stressful week ahead, but don't forget to take a minute for yourself! Whether it is a funny meme, or 30 seconds of deep breathing, those small acts of kindness to yourself are important.    Election Day Food Deals - Election SOS Between researching candidates, propositions and your local polling place, you may work up an appetite on Election Day. We found a few Election Day food and drink deals in case you want to grab a free donut tomorrow.      Election Distractor  - NYT Squeeze a virtual stress ball, set a concept on fire, or learn how to make a good hot chocolate. You are welcome.    What type of training of information do you want Election SOS to cover? Hit up our suggestion box here.  Were you forwarded this email? 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