Urge our Senators to provide $4 billion for free, fair, safe, and secure elections — and support the United States Postal Service!
COVID-19 presents an unprecedented challenge to our elections and endangers our democracy. No citizen should have to make a choice between their health and their democratic right to vote. The Senate may consider another stimulus package within the next month or more. Low-income and people of color face the biggest barriers to voting. With increasing voter suppression, and the alarming rise of authoritarianism, we face many challenges to ensure democracy and a just society – we must be vigilant and vocal!
We must urge our senators now to provide at least $4 billion in funding for the 2020 elections and protect the United States Postal Service (USPS). A functioning Postal Service is critical for safe vote-by-mail elections.
Description of the issue
In the stimulus package passed in March, Congress included $400 million towards state funding for this year’s elections. It was a start but it’s not enough to ensure that all states can run safe and fair elections. According to election experts, in order to ensure that COVID-19 doesn’t keep millions of people from voting, states and localities will need approximately $4 billion of federal funds to administer the elections. Congress needs to provide the funds for online registration, vote-by-mail, early voting and safe in-person voting.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act (H.R.6800) on May 15 which includes $3.6 billion towards the much-needed funding and provisions to secure our vote — and health. The HEROES Act also includes necessary funding for the USPS, now under severe threat. With the pandemic driving down mail volume by as much as 50 percent this year, the USPS is on track to run out of money by September 2020.
The Senate majority leader has not scheduled a vote on the HEROES Act. There is no stimulus package currently moving in the Senate that would include funding for states in support of the elections and similarly for the USPS.