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Add your name to urge Congress to immediately increase funding to states so they can hold safe elections!
“The coronavirus pandemic is a public health and economic crisis, but it could also cause a democracy crisis. Because of the outbreak, our elections are at risk and states currently don’t have the resources they need to make our elections safe and secure in November. Will the polls be safe? Will states be able to handle the spike in absentee voting? Will they be able to accommodate the likely demand for more early voting? States need more federal funding and they need it now. We need to act fast so that all eligible Americans are able to exercise their right to vote in November. Congress must increase funding for states’ election infrastructures in the next stimulus bill.”
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John,
News story after news story about our nation’s upcoming elections all paint the same picture: Americans are rightly worried about choosing between voting and their health, and states have a lot of work to do to make sure they don’t have to this fall.
In the recent coronavirus relief bill, Congress allocated $400 million to states so that they could improve their election infrastructures ahead of this year’s elections. Unfortunately, this is not nearly enough for states and election administrators to ensure that they can hold safe and secure elections.
That’s why Issue One is urging Congress to immediately provide significantly more funding to states so they can improve their election infrastructures, including supporting alternatives to voting at the polls, such as early voting and voting by absentee ballot.
Tell Congress to increase funding in the next stimulus bill so that states can run safe and secure elections in November.
At a time when 66% of Americans feel uncomfortable about visiting a polling place amid coronavirus, our country must step up and address this issue head-on. People shouldn’t be forced to choose between their health and exercising their right to vote.
Every state has some form of absentee voting by mail — but states won’t be able to handle the likely surge in voters using this method. Many states will want to expand the times and hours for in-person and early voting. And every state has work to do to ensure that polling locations remain safely open on election day. All of this will take more funding than states currently have, especially as state revenues go down due to reduced economic activity.
Add your name to tell Congress to act now and give states more funding so they can hold safe, secure, and fair elections in November.
Thanks for all you do,
Meredith McGehee
Executive Director, Issue One
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