I haven't slept well in over a week.  Given the fast-changing critical situation with coronavirus 😷, first, I advocated for "voting from home" (Vote By Mail) as an option but how things have changed in less than a week. Now, I'm advocating for moving to VBM completely much like WA, CO and other states. There needs to be a holistic approach for this to work. 

1) We need to shut down in-person voting on Election Day. I couldn't stop thinking of all the poll workers and Election Day volunteers who are seniors. We can't disinfect enough between each voter touching the machines and surfaces to mitigate the contagion.

2) I've also been working on a VBM bill that protects the voters and it was just recently introduced and provides a backstop of failed envelope design and ballots rejected due to alleged missed deadlines. So as more voters vote by mail, I've got a bill that protects their vote, A3591.

3) And in anticipation of both the volume of paper ballots and election security, I've been working with Rutgers University on optical scanner voting machines that scans the paper ballots in seconds.

To help pay for VBM, I am also supporting Senator Wyden and Klobuchar on their bill to have VBM in all 50 states and it provides $500 million in funding. I don't know how the costs will play out here in NJ when we go to all VBM paper ballots. I'm sure we will have save money from having to order, ship, set-up, and return the big voting machines at each local polling station. But most importantly, think of the voters and the workers. Four states have entirely VBM already. The rest should do the same.