Indivisibles,

It’s been 67 days since the House passed the Heroes Act -- yet the Senate
has dragged its feet and done nothing to help the folks who are most
impacted by COVID-19. While the pandemic affects us all in a myriad of
ways, there’s no denying that the crisis [ [link removed] ]weighs more heavily on Black
people and communities of color.

[ [link removed] ]Call your Senators now.

In the last two months, the public health and economic crisis has
intensified, and the ongoing pandemic of racial injustice in this country
has gained global attention. And while videos of police brutality are some
of the most obvious examples of racial injustice, [ [link removed] ]racist policies that
suppress the vote among Black- and brown-majority communities have become
even more apparent with the spread of COVID-19.  

Racist policies that limit who can vote have existed for years (like Jim
Crow laws) -- but policies like strict voter ID laws, poll taxes, felony
disenfranchisement, and voter registration restrictions are the modern Jim
Crow laws that were put in place to suppress participation in elections by
a very specific group of people. And now that COVID-19 has spread unabated
across the country, there are even more barriers preventing people from
voting. Recent examples include hours-long lines in Wisconsin and Georgia
due to a lack of poll workers and a lack of poll locations. Plain and
simple: this is voter suppression.

At the end of the day, voter suppression is a racial justice issue. And
because the tactics used to suppress the vote are wide-ranging, and their
targets -- communities of color -- are impacted in various ways, the
solutions have to be multifaceted as well. For example, vote by mail is a
great solution, [ [link removed] ]but it won’t help indigenous communities who have
little access to the US Postal Service and who are disproportionately
impacted by the pandemic.  

Luckily, the Heroes Act addresses many of these key aspects of democracy
reform that will help protect the vote ahead of the election. The Heroes
Act includes critical protections and funding for the upcoming election in
November to help expand access, secure ballots, and put in place key vote
by mail infrastructure. The bill:

* Includes an additional $3.6 billion in election funding to expand vote
by mail and maintain safe in-person voting locations -- for a total of
$4 billion, [ [link removed] ]the amount recommended by the Brennan Center to
properly fund the election during COVID-19. 
* Allows any eligible voters in any state to request a mail-in ballot
for any reason, and allows them to request them online.
* Adds $25 billion in funding for the United States Postal Service.
* Offers important measures like same-day and online voter registration,
extended early voting days, etc. [ [link removed] ]To read more about the Heroes Act
and election protection, click here. 

Without these key protections in place, voter suppression will continue to
impact Black and brown people. That’s why we have two asks for you: 

 1. [ [link removed] ]Start by calling your Senators and demand they pass the Heroes Act
immediately. And keep calling back! We need to make sure that they
hear us loud and clear: stop the COVID-19 crisis from spinning into an
even deeper economic crisis that further fails Black people, other
communities of color, and all people in America, by improving and
passing the HEROES Act. [ [link removed] ]Click here to call now. 
 2. Save the date! Make calls this Thursday, July 23, for a national Vote
by Mail Call-In day. We’ll be driving calls on Thursday to demand that
Senators protect our elections by passing the Heroes Act with the
additional $3.6 billion in election funding. 

As we continue to push for a more equitable democracy, we have to remember
that this system wasn’t built to work for everyone -- the system isn’t
broken, it’s working as it was intended. That’s why we have to work every
day to reform our democracy and make it accessible to everyone.

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team

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