With election day in less than two months and national conventions underway, it is worthwhile to start thinking about what election day will actually look like in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. While some states have still held primary elections since the pandemic appeared in the US in March, sixteen states have postponed their primaries. The logistics of executing a nationwide election are complex, and the solution will likely be a combination of early voting, mail-in voting, and socially-distanced in person voting. President Trump has already raised questions about the legitimacy of mail-in voting, although his claims about prevalent mail-in voter fraud have been widely contradicted. This concern could lead to long lines at in-person polling places on election day, which would create organization nightmares for those enforcing social distancing guidelines. All of these factors set up a gloomy picture for what voting will actually look like on November 3rd.

The first national election convention took place in 1832 in the process to determine the twelfth president of the United States. The Anti-Masonic party opted for an open convention to nominate their candidate in an effort to differ from the “Washington elite”. The old nomination process was extremely murky and involved agreements between higher-ups in the party. While the Anti-Masonic party nominated William Wirt, the Democrats copied the Anti-Masonic Party in the same election year and used their first party convention to nominate incumbent president Andrew Jackson. The Whigs did the same to nominate Henry Clay. Jackson would go on to win the 1832 election, and political parties have continued to use conventions to finish their nomination process since then. The excitement the event created and the attention it commanded made it an ideal final stage of the nominating process for parties. Since its first introduction, the convention process has changed over time, but still remains unique to United States politics. With the current COVID-19 pandemic continuing to rage throughout the country, the nature of conventions must shift once again, as packed stadiums will no longer be an option.