‘Vote and then chill.’ Axios’ Jim VandeHei walks you step-by-step through “a safe, sane way to navigate election night—and beyond” …
■ … including bracing for a “red mirage.”
■ The AP explains why you may go to bed Tuesday without knowing the winner.
■ Politico surveys voting tech glitches that could trigger panic at the polls.
■ President Trump says that, as soon as the voting ends in pivotal states, “We’re going in with our lawyers.”
‘There’s no scenario where I’m not worried.’ A University of Chicago history professor who’s studied the white power movement tells the Tribune a Trump loss could trigger “mass-casualty attacks out of frustration,” and a Trump win is “a recipe for increasing violence.”
■ The FBI is investigating a caravan of Trump supporters surrounding and then following a Biden campaign bus Friday …
■ … actions by people Trump describes as “patriots” who “did nothing wrong.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg wearily sums up the Trump administration—so far—with a single, 724-word question that you almost certainly couldn’t read in a single breath. (Could you?)
Where to vote. Too late for a mailbox. Find your Tuesday polling place in Chicago and Cook County.
■ The weather looks reasonably good for people stuck in long outdoor lines.
■ PolitiFact recaps Trump’s “cascade of falsehoods about voting by mail.”
■ Find answers to all your logistical election questions in the Chicago Public Square voter guide.
Fauci’s fate. The president suggested early today to a Florida crowd chanting “Fire Fauci” that he may dump the nation’s top infectious disease expert after the election.
■ CNN: Trump technically doesn’t have that authority (July link).
■ The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer explains why Trump (literally) can’t afford to lose.
■ Axios: Wealthy Americans are rushing to shield their assets from a Joe Biden administration.
‘Optimism bias.’ That’s one of the psychological kinks ProPublica lists in a rundown of “How Your Brain Tricks You Into Taking Risks During the Pandemic.”
■ COVID-19’s Chicago casualties are up to four deaths per day.
■ The pandemic has triggered what some economists call a “shecession,” as working moms have been disproportionately forced from their jobs—because, the Trib reports, their work can’t be done remotely and because, with schools closed, they’re taking on more childcare.
■ The editor of The New York Times’ online Cooking section: “When terrible things happen, our numbers go up.”
A ‘Karen’ surprise. The Times has correlated first names with a tendency to vote for Trump or Biden. (“Charles” is a disappointment.)
■ It’s whipped up a corresponding quiz.
■ The Conversation: There’s a word for “the peculiar form of anxiety that comes from being unable to settle into a single point of view, leaving you with questions like: Is it a lovely autumn day, or an alarming moment of converging historical catastrophes?”
‘We escaped with nothing but our phones.’ Longtime Chicago radio star Robert Murphy’s Michigan cabin burned to the ground over the weekend.
■ Acclaimed Chicago journalist Carol Marin is prepping for her last election night after 48 years in the news biz.
■ Thanks to Mike Braden for some typographical tidying this time out.