COVID-19, Constitutions, and a Connected World: Assessing the Constitutionality of Remote Voting in Legislatures

I. Introduction II. Background ... A. A Brief History of the COVID-19 Outbreak and Its Effects ... B. The Legislative Response to the Outbreak III. Federal Level: There Are No Constitutional Barriers to Remote Voting in Congress ... A. Members of Congress Lobby for Remote Voting in Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak ... B. Congress’s Rulemaking Power in the Context of Remote Voting ... C. The Political Question Doctrine Would Likely Lead the Court To Reject a Challenge to the Rulemaking Power ... D. The Quorum Requirement as a Potential Express Limitation to Congress’s Rulemaking Power in the Remote Voting Context ... E. Other Considerations: The Use of Technology in Constitutional Settings, Previous Actions to Address Mass Vacancies in Congress, and Technological Hurdles to Remote Voting IV. Execution: Setting Chamber Rules to Allow for Remote Voting V. Remote Voting in the Nebraska Legislature Is Constitutional and Should Be Implemented ... A. Survey of Remote Voting at the State Level ... B. Remote Voting in Nebraska: Constitutional Considerations VI. Conclusion