Call to Action: Ask Your Senators to Provide Funding to Keep Our Elections Safe and Accessible

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many facets of normal life and will likely have a disruptive effect on the upcoming November election. Voting, the very foundation of our democracy, requires a safe and secure environment in order to protect the vote, the voter, and the workers who administer the elections. These protections cost money. The pandemic has left states and municipalities fiscally compromised, and yet the onus of election security will still fall on states and local jurisdictions. We must call on Congress, specifically the Senate, to approve the $3.6 billion in funding necessary for states to protect the vote.

To do:

Contact your senators to let them know you support funding enabling the protection of the vote, voters, and election workers. In less than five minutes, you can submit a letter to both of your senators via our website. You have the option to either write your own letter or answer some short prompts to have a personalized letter created for you. Go HERE to submit a letter.

Background:

The outbreak and subsequent spread of COVID-19 have impacted every facet of our lives. In order to contain and lessen the spread as well as protect the health of every American, it is necessary to make adjustments to the way we go about our day-to-day lives. Primary elections in the late winter and early spring demonstrated weaknesses in the system that will need to be addressed before the November election. To protect the vote and ensure the safety of voters and poll workers, we must consider making adjustments to our voting systems. One size will not fit all, but most polling stations will need to make many of the following accommodations:  

• Increasing access and use of vote-by-mail ballots
• Implementing online voter registration in states that don’t currently offer it
• Cybersecurity for processing online voter registrations securely
• PPE and cleaning supplies for maintaining safe polling places
• Printing and supplies for vote-by-mail ballot requests, envelopes, and ballots
• High-speed scanners for processing vote-by-mail ballots
• Hiring additional election workers
• Maintaining and/or increasing the number of polling places
• Pre-paid postage for vote-by-mail ballots and requests
• Additional equipment for emergency polling places
• Providing secure drop-off boxes for vote-by-mail ballots
• Additional staff to process an increased number of vote-by-mail ballots

Recent primaries during COVID-19 have provided insight into problems that will most likely plague the November election. In Wisconsin’s April primary, where over one million vote-by-mail ballots were cast — compared to 140,000 in 2016 — there were problems getting ballots out in time and processing the returned ballots. In addition, roughly 7,000 poll workers resigned from their duties due to COVID-related health risks. This resulted in voters waiting for hours to vote as polling places were condensed to accommodate the loss of workers. 

Several months later, the Georgia primary offered another glimpse into potential roadblocks to a successful election in the fall. Due to social distancing requirements that reduced the number of machines and people that could be in a polling station, as well as fewer polling places, voters again had to wait hours to cast a ballot. The system was simply overtaxed. 

While these problems can be addressed and corrected, it will require time and funds. States are strapped as they respond to COVID-19. Election budgets were approved and set months ago, and state balanced-budget requirements do not allow for budget adjustments. In order to make corrections to these overtaxed and under-equipped situations, Congress will need to provide federal funding to protect the upcoming election. This must be done quickly in order for states to be able to implement changes, collect and accept bids for new equipment, and begin printing vote-by-mail ballots, requests, and envelopes. States will also require time to adequately train workers, distribute requests and ballots, and ensure there are sufficient numbers of polling places to accommodate in-person voters safely.