What were they thinking? Last week the US Supreme Court gave voters in Wisconsin two choices: risk their safety by going in person to the polls, or forgo their right to vote.

This shameful debacle has made it painfully clear: safe and secure primary elections are among the casualties of the Covid-19 pandemic. We can’t let the presidential election be a casualty as well.

Sign this petition today and demand that all states pass no-excuse absentee ballot voting laws ahead of the 2020 election.

As the pandemic works its way across the country, thousands of Americans have lost their lives and millions their livelihood. Now the notion of a fair and free election is at risk of being lost as well. It is unconscionable that Americans are being forced to choose between their health and their rights. The fact is, allowing all citizens to cast no-excuse absentee ballots is the only way to protect the integrity of the election this November.

The Wisconsin primary was a travesty on many accounts. It’s hard to quantify the number of voters who, for their safety or for the safety of those their family, stayed away from the polls. It’s hard to quantify the number of voters who left voting lines, without casting ballots, because with drastically reduced polling sites, wait times were intolerably long. And we’re just getting a sense of the number of ballots that will go uncounted because they were considered by election officials to be late — even though the instructions on the ballot said otherwise. 

The Wisconsin primaries were a wake up call for the country. If our democracy is to remain healthy and solvent states must enhance absentee ballot options before the general election in November. We must act quickly to bring absentee ballot voting up to speed — in every state — to ensure the legitimacy of future elections.

Sign this petition and join us in our efforts to preserve election integrity.

There is ample evidence that when voters are given the option to vote by mail engagement increases and electoral costs for states governments decrease. Today 28 states and the District of Columbia allow any citizen to cast a no-excuse absentee ballot and five states conduct all elections by mail — making the need for absentee ballots obsolete.

The remaining 17 states still require valid excuses from voters. In light of predictions of a possible resurgence of Covid-19 this fall, the sensible course of action is to make no-excuse absentee ballots readily available everywhere. But states need to begin preparing now for an increase in mail-in ballots come November. We at CCAN support no excuse absentee ballot options, and encourage you to check out this website to register for your ballot online. It’s time to move past archaic in person voting rules and to make no-excuse absentee ballot voting an option in every state.

Demand that states prepare now so that any citizen can cast a no-excuse vote in November.

It is disturbing that Amerimans were forced to put their health in jeopardy in order to vote. It doesn’t have to be this way. States have the ability to promote a healthy electorate while also protecting the health of its people by enacting no-excuse absentee voting laws.

This November the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Sign this petition and demand that all states enact no-excuse absentee voting laws before the 2020 elections.

Thanks for all you do,

Mike Tidwell
Executive Director
Chesapeake Climate Action Network