|
Dear friend,
We need your help right now to protect our democracy from the impact of the coronavirus.
Voters in four states today are facing a terrible choice: leave their homes to put public health at risk, or stay home and not participate in democracy. Ohio was mired in a bitter battle over today's primary that only got resolved at the last minute. Poll workers are worried about adequate protection from infection.
We can't let these problems happen in November. The presidential election is too important to postpone. But we also can't put public health at risk. Thankfully, there's a solution already in use that can protect both public health and our democracy: voting by mail.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden just proposed a bill that would provide every voter across America with a paper ballot they can return by mail or to a drop-off site. It's the same process that Oregon and Washington State have used effectively for years. This is urgent: we're asking for your help right now to get Congress to pass this essential bill -- before the November election. Can you help?
I voted by mail in Washington State's presidential primary earlier this month. It was really easy to do, and I knew I could cast a ballot without putting anybody's health at risk in the state where the coronavirus first began spreading in the USA.
But most states don't offer this option. Dozens of states make it extremely difficult to get an absentee ballot and vote from the safety of their own home. Given the massive impact of the coronavirus pandemic, we can't afford to wait until the fall and discover the virus is still a threat -- and potentially delay the crucial November election.
Sen. Wyden's bill, the Resilient Elections Act, solves this problem and protects our democracy as well as public health. The bill also requires states to offer postage prepaid self-sealing envelopes to voters. The Resilient Elections Act provides $500 million to fund emergency state vote-by-mail efforts.1
Most importantly, this bill protects us against any potential efforts to exploit the coronavirus to augment elections for political gain. It would ensure the elections go forward as planned this fall, as voters will be able to cast ballots safely.
They can also vote securely. And vote-by-mail also renders unnecessary the voter ID requirements and restrictions on the number of polling places that many states have used to roll back voting rights.
We have no time to lose when it comes to protecting our democracy. Will you fight against any efforts to postpone or cancel the fall elections?
Thanks for taking action in this urgent moment,
Robert and the team at Demand Progress
Sources:
1. Sen. Ron Wyden press release, "Wyden Introduces Bill to Protect Voters and Elections Against COVID-19 Risks by Mandating Emergency Vote-By-Mail," March 11, 2020.
PAID FOR BY DEMAND PROGRESS (DemandProgress.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Join our online community on Facebook or Twitter.
You can unsubscribe from this list at any time.