If you live in Georgia, by now you’ve heard that our Presidential Preference primary was postponed from March 24th to May 19th, to the scheduled state primary election date.
Now the emergency created by the COVID-19 pandemic is putting at further risk our next election, not just in Georgia, but all future election dates left in the 2020 election cycle nationwide. What’s at risk is not just our health and safety as voters question whether in-person voting is the best option for the foreseeable future, but our right to a free and fair and accessible election.
John, now is the time to demand that Mitch McConnell and the Republican-controlled Senate pass a newly introduced bill to protect American’s right to vote during the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the plan introduced by Senators Ron Wyden and Amy Klobuchar, if 25 percent of US states declare an emergency, that would trigger a requirement to allow any voter to vote from home via a mail-in ballot.
Here’s what the bill would do:
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Expand early in-person voting and no-excuse absentee vote by mail to all states.
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Offer voters the ability to submit an electronic request for an absentee ballot rather than request one in person or with a paper form.
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Require states to offer voters the choice to receive their blank absentee ballots electronically to print at home and return in the mail. Currently, this option is only available to overseas voters and those in the military.
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Accept absentee ballot requests up until five days before an election for blank ballots sent in the mail and up until one day before the election for electronic print-at-home ballots.
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Accept ballots postmarked by Election Day in case there are delays due to postal workers being quarantined.
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Require states to offer prepaid, self-sealing envelopes, as well as ballot tracking and postage, in order to minimize the possible spread of the coronavirus through licking envelopes.
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Help states recruit younger poll workers, so that older poll workers who traditionally make up the majority of election day volunteers could stay home.
- Ted
P.S. - After you’ve signed - Please share the petition on all your social media and email/text friends. Let’s not let COVID-19 interrupt Americans' right to a free and fair and accessible election.