WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK

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This week I had the pleasure of traveling to Midland to see our president speak to Texas job creators and many of our state and nation’s conservative leaders. His message was inspiring and gives me hope for the future of our country, in spite of the many challenges that lie before us. As you all know one of my greatest concerns is preserving the integrity of our elections - ensuring that every law-abiding American, no matter his or her beliefs or background, has their right to vote protected. That right includes the guarantee that his or her vote COUNTS and is COUNTED. I fear that many Americans won’t have that guarantee this November. President Trump is right to shine a light on the serious problems with mail-in-voting. He is right that universal vote by mail is completely different from absentee voting. And he is right that vote by mail opens numerous doors to election fraud. So what can be done? How can we respond? True the Vote is taking action, mobilizing volunteers across the country, training them on how to best serve. Please join us today, help us ensure a secure, free, and fair election for all.

Onward,
Catherine

NEWS TO KNOW

1. New York Board Of Elections Finishes Counting Absentee Ballots…FIVE WEEKS after Election Day
If anyone wants a sneak peak into what Election Day Month? may look like, take a look at New York. "More than a month after ballots were cast in the New York primary, the board of elections just finished counting all absentee ballots. In some races, those votes were the deciding factor. Suraj Patel is one of many candidates who waited anxiously for the results. Ultimately, he was defeated in the 12th Congressional District. Patel is accepting the outcome but says the absentee process desperately needs reforms. "We know that nearly 25% of people who actually went through the trouble of requesting a ballot, getting it, voting and dropping it in the mail will not have their ballots counted," he said. Patel has boxes filled with copies of invalidated absentee ballots. The issues are wide-ranging, from where the post office stamped the ballot to voters forgetting to sign it. Not to mention some who said online that they requested an absentee ballot but never received it."

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/07/29/new-york-primary-absentee-ballot-results/

2. Postal Service backlog sparks worries that ballot delivery could be delayed in November We already know many of the limitations of the US Postal Service. However, less than 100 days from the election, they are already admitting a backlog - this is only one reason why we are urging voters to vote in person on election day. It is the only way to ensure that your vote is counted. "The new policies have resulted in at least a two-day delay in scattered parts of the country, even for express mail, according to multiple postal workers and union leaders. Letter carriers are manually sorting more mail, adding to the delivery time. Bins of mail ready for delivery are sitting in post offices because of scheduling and route changes. And without the ability to work overtime, workers say the logjam is worsening without an end in sight. As states look to dramatically expand the use of mail-in ballots this fall, postal workers across the country said the changes could lead to chaos in November. "I’m actually terrified to see election season under the new procedure," said Lori Cash, president of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Local 183 in Western New York."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/postal-service-backlog-sparks-worries-that-ballot-delivery-could-be-delayed-in-november/2020/07/30/cb19f1f4-d1d0-11ea-8d32-1ebf4e9d8e0d_story.html

3. Pennsylvania’s mail ballot problems kept tens of thousands from voting in a pandemic primary
Pennsylvania continues to reflect the overwhelming problems with expanded vote by mail. "Before May 12, almost 90% of voters who requested mail ballots ultimately voted, and the vast majority did so by mail. But many mail ballot applications, almost two out of five, were processed within three weeks of the election. And for those voters, only about 76% ended up voting. That’s a significant difference: Without that drop-off, about 92,000 more Pennsylvanians would have voted in the primary, according to the Inquirer analysis."
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pa-mail-ballot-deadlines-disenfranchisement-20200730.html

4. Poll: More Than Half Of Young People Lack Resources To Vote By Mail
A recent survey shows that "more than half of voters under the age of 35 say they don't have the resources or knowledge they need to vote by mail in November.
The poll was conducted by Global Strategy Group for NextGen America, a group that is focused primarily on engaging and turning out young voters." Data also show that minority voters all too often get the short end of the stick under a universal mail in structure - they tend to move more often and may not have their most updated address in the voter rolls. Never mind that liberals champion vote by mail as a great equalizer of voting rights. The facts show that such a claim could not be farther from the truth.
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/30/896993401/poll-more-than-half-of-young-people-lack-resources-to-vote-by-mail