All over the country, coronavirus is pushing back and delaying primary elections. As governments follow public safety guidelines, many states are allowing more voters to cast a ballot by mail from their home, rather than forcing another trip out in public by voting at polling places. 

But that’s not a good idea, according to some of our leaders here in Georgia. Speaker of the Georgia House David Ralston is vehemently against voting by mail, because he thinks it could cost Georgia Republicans control of the state legislature. 

Here’s how Speaker Ralston is thinking: If more folks can cast their votes, our party loses. Therefore, less people should be able to vote. That’s not democracy. 

If you believe that we should make sure COVID-19 won’t harm our elections and impact American’s ability to vote, please join me and sign my petition in favor of expanding voting by mail access in the 2020 elections.

Both Georgia Speaker of the House David Ralston and President Trump are ‘saying the quiet part out loud’ about why they don’t want more folks to vote by mail: it would increase participation, and counter long-standing voter suppression efforts by Republicans.

Ralston just said that sending an absentee ballot to every registered Georgia voter before the May 19 primary election -- our state’s current plan -- “would be extremely devastating to Republicans and conservatives in Georgia” because “every registered voter is going to get one of these… it will certainly drive up turnout.” 

That echoes recent comments from President Trump, who said increased voting by mail would “lead to levels of voting that if you ever agreed to it you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” 

“The President said it best,” said Ralston. 

John, it’s sad that many of our political leaders want fewer Georgians and Americans to vote during this crisis. They’re more concerned with keeping power than increasing democratic participation. I hope you’ll join me in advocating for an expansion in voting by mail so that every registered voter who wants to can safely cast a ballot in 2020 -- not making it a partisan issue.

Sign today: Support Vote By Mail in 2020 →

With love,

-- Lucy