Many of us can ever remember. We know how big the stakes are. I, personally, have been through this myself when my husband got really sick and was in the hospital and was able to see firsthand how horrific this is where you cant stand by your loved ones side and hold her hand and you cant give hogs to the Health Care Workers and they are the ones holding up the phone to their ears. I know we are going to find a way out of this, but to me, the only way we find a way out of this is to make sure we have a functioning democracy. That is why i am so devoted to this issue and all of the things we were talking about before the pandemic from making progress in a big way on climate change. We cannot wait. Doing something about gun safety, racial disparity, economic inequality. We have to move now and the way we do it is with our democracy. That is why we are working so hard to pass our bill that ron and i have been leading, each of us in different ways, for years. That is to make it easier for people to vote. Right now, we have a big opportunity coming up with the covid 4 proposal. Morewould allow us to put funding in place for our states as well as get some of these reforms in place. Let me walk through what this is like right now. I dont think i have to give you steps. You saw it all in wisconsin. You saw what happened when a Republican Legislature decided not to let the democratic governor to delay the election like so many other governors have done for peoples own health. What we saw instead was people standing in garbage bags with masks coming up shift at the hospital and having to risk their lives, their lives, just to be able to exercise their right to vote. While meanwhile, in the luxury of his home on 1600 pennsylvania avenue, donald trump orders a mailin ballot with his wife. That is what they did. They were able to get their ballot from palm beach on vote that way as he has done many times in the past. That is the case that we have. I think one of the strongest arguments we have is that we work to get this funding and reforms in place in the next package, is not just that inequity, but the fact that the voters in wisconsin, they acted. They knew those republicans were playing with their lives and were literally trying to take the election away from them and try to literally play politics. Meanwhile, we have other republicans like the secretary of state of washington, that you are going to hear from, who have been working toward constructive change. Or some other governors around the country who believe that people should have the right to vote. That is the political strategy, very clear. That is that we think we can get bipartisan support for the funding. Are going towe fight like hell to get those reforms. Those are things like this. 20 days early keeping the polling places open. We know for certain some states, 45 of the people are voting early, by ballot. We know by the mail. We know we are going to have to keep these polling places open as well. We know they will be people voting on election day so we want to train a new generation of poll workers. That funding includes that as well as malaise requirements to break down some of these heinous things that are going on. For instance, six states in our country right now require either to witnesses for a notary two witnesses for a notary to get a mailin ballot. There is actually a story of someone who has a notary through a window in an assisted living or they were trying to get an early ballot for primary. Our bill would knock down those barriers and make it very straightforward that people should be able to vote without those barriers in place. That is what we are doing. Im very excited to be working with my friend ron. I appreciate the work elizabeth has been doing, who i know you are going to hear from, as well as fatim, whose district has been so hardhit by coronavirus, and all the groups on the call. This should be something we can all unite on. I know Mitch Mcconnell has stood in the way of election reform many times in the past. I have tried to get the backup paper ballots, but i think you are starting to see republicans that are interested in working with us, at least on the money piece of this, and that is going to be our goal with the covid 4 package. Overall, i just want to thank you because we know that Voter Suppression has been going on for a long time. I dont think we ever thought it would come to be what we saw in wisconsin. We just have to make the case for people. Why would you disallow a veteran, a senior who is a veteran from voting because he cant take the risk to go to the poll . Why would you make hospital workers, who have no ability to get a notary or get two witnesses because every day they go to risk their lives, why would you make them do that . We are going to have such a strong case to make for america. , the workt wait to we are going to be doing in the next month to push this through. The other thing i would mention is the effect this had on our minority community. You saw the people standing in line in milwaukee, how they reduced at the poll locations from over 100 to five. In green bay, from 35 to two. We have a big racial argument to strong this case, a freedom and Constitutional Rights argument to make. We have a democracy argument to make. We are ready to go and i know you are going to hear that from ron as well. Thank you so much, senator klobuchar. For your remarks you touched on a lot of really important points. We also have a question for you that was sent in by the president of democracy 21. He asks, you are known for striding to work in a bipartisan fashion and being able to maintain bipartisan cosponsors for the bills you introduce. Do you think we can get any Senate Republican support are more funding for the states to run their elections since there is strong support from republican as well as demo attic state officials on the need for these funds . I know you touched on this a little bit, but maybe you could elaborate. I look forward to hearing from the republican secretary of state from Washington State. The iowa secretary of state so they need the funds yesterday. You have governors in states like maryland and New Hampshire and ohio that are republicans, that are pushing for this money. That being said, i dont want to sound naive here because we know in congress there are problems. The rules us chair committee, he has publicly come out against the reform, but has said they are open to getting my money. It is our job to work with our leadership to push for the reforms as well as for the funding. One thing i did forget to mention, ron and i were really excited that Michelle Obama endorsed our bill. We thought that was pretty good. She hasnt done a lot of political things since they left the white house. We have been able to work with so many other groups including the ones on this call. Again, i dont want to be a pollyanna. I am the one that ran into a buzz saw with Mitch Mcconnell many times over backup paper ballots and the like. It is one of the reasons i gave they gaveickname me that nickname about russia. It is what it is. I still think the overwhelming support, the full numbers are out of the park on this with all the people that want to see change. And the all of us groups on this call to make the case. We have a clear target with a lot of people at our side. Thank you you so much, senator klobuchar for a love the incredible work you are doing to secure our vote and fighting to make sure every american will have access to the polls. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you. Goodbye. Senator klobuchar also serves on the Judiciary Committee and is Ranking Member of the rules committee. For those of you who are just joining in, this is the protect kickoff. Town hall we are speaking with government leaders about what action must be taken in order for us to be able to safely vote in our elections this year. I would like to introduce our next speaker, another National Leader in the fight for expanding Voting Rights, u. S. Senator ron wyden from oregon. Senator . To theden a big thanks declaration for american democracy. I would offer up that this is not a complicated matter. The bill that i have written with senator klobuchar protects your right to vote safely, no matter where in america you live. The bottom line is, it is time to covid proof elections in america. 2002, when i proposed the first legislation to allow itricans to vote by mail, was considered kind of an academic exercise. Papersf professors wrote speculating about voter turnout were which Political Party would benefit. It was kind of interesting to outthe tweed jacket set go and debate the whole issue. It is academic no longer. Is now the linchpin to safe voting. That is especially true for vulnerable populations like older people, older women, for example, many of whom have actually served in the military and have already risked their lives for this country once. They shouldnt be asked to risk their lives again. Now, senator klobuchar and i did not reinvent the wheel in writing this bill. America is already moving in our direction. Nebraska,ght red nebraska, announced it has seen unprecedented requests for absentee ballots. Lighter red ohio is moving to a male in primary. Mailin primary. Maryland, with a republican governor, is holding a mainly vote by mail primary. All of these are states governed by republicans. It is hard to see the donald trump theory that voting by mail is some kind of giant liberal conspiracy. Is last point i would make that our bill does not federalize the fall elections, nor does it perpetrate any other kind of nonsense that some constitutionally illiterate politicians are peddling. If anybody following us tonight once the details and wants to i have simple it is, actually demonstrated voting by mail in my dining room in a nned tonight have pi at the top of my feed. Big, big thanks for all you are doing. I understand we may have a question. Let me also think hakim and elizabeth because we are all jana thank you, so much. We do have a question for you from mike, a senior fellow at the union of concerned scientists. Theou know, oregon was first state to adopt or universal vote by mail and you made it happen. How has voter turnout been affected by this and what lessons could other states learn from oregon system . Sen. Wyden we have a unique offering for the country. Americas first the by mail senator in 1996 republicans supported the process. At that time democrats were opposed. After i became the first new senator in 30 years everything was reversed. Democrats started to love it and theblicans said it would be end of western civilization. Smith, a, gordon republican leader in our legislature got elected to the u. S. Senate later in that year. Oregon voters said enough with all this silliness, we like to voting by mail whether we are conservatives or liberals and we put it on the ballot and it passed overwhelmingly. Vote by mail is something that oregonians weighed in on. Is thathave seen studies show it is cheaper, increases turnout, and republicans including our late and wellrespected republican secretary of state, Dennis Richardson said in a letter to that fraud was basically nonexistent. Anybody, if you are tired of standing in line for hours just to vote worried about whether an electronic machine is secure, or you cannot just get time off from work to go to the polls, or you just want to be safe, tonight our message is the better way is to vote by mail. Jana thank you so much, senator wyden for joining us. It is heartening to hear you talk about not just the democratic states that her work and to institute vote by mail but also the republican states that are doing so as well. Thank you for joining us and take care. Senator wyden is also the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance committee and also serves on the budget, energy, and Natural Resources committee. It is important to mention that one state that has been doing vote by mail the longest is the very red state of utah. Introducehrilled to our next speaker, u. S. Senator Elizabeth Warren from massachusetts. Senator warren . Senator, i think you might be on mute. Sen. Warren now i am not. Thank you again. With good to be here declaration for american democracy. I appreciate everyone getting together. Liketual town hall is not being in person, but at least we are talking about the important issues. Is the beating heart of our democracy. It should not be partisan. It now has become partisan. We all heard donald trump say that we cant let everyone vote, because if we did republicans would never win another election. We still goal our eyes about donald trump, but we have to pause for a minute and think about the fact that one of our two Major Political parties has plan y said their they claim how dangerous it has become devote and how far they will go to keep people from voting. I see this as a moment where the accountability of our Election Officials cannot be higher. People get thet chance to vote. Making sure that come in november of 2020 everyone will have an opportunity to vote, that should be a high priority. I put out a plan a couple of weeks ago, and basically it starts with money. It is going to take money to make sure we can do vote by mail. This seems to be the number that has been settled on so everyone in the United States can receive a postage prepaid envelope to be able to vote and receive their ballot. In addition, we need to make sure people can register online, that we have an extended Registration Period and that we have safe in person voting. Resources so that people will be able to vote. Two, we have to protect the post office and the postal system. Voting by mail is just one more reminder of why we need a postal system. We need to put money into the postal system to make sure it is fair for us it is there for us every day in terms of delivering letters and packages. People are using it during this crisis but it is also a critical part of our democracy. Vote by mail requires a strong postal system. Third, we need to protect havers making sure they the protective gear they need and appropriate sanitation supplies. That they have the training and are fully protected. Four, as much as we talk about voting by mail and i am a huge fan of voting by mail, i believe nationally we have to protect converse and voting. Voting by mail works for a lot of people but not everyone. Are particular challenges with voting by mail. People who are living on tribal , sometimes in communities of color it is important to be able to rely on voting in person i want to make sure there are resource to support same day in person voting and early voting. We know basically what we need. Amy said, this is not rocket science. We need to get this into the next corona package that comes down. We need to make sure that we are putting this big negotiation together and our number one priority is protect the rights of people to vote so nobody has to choose between their health and their ability to rex exercise their rights as an american citizen. It is more important now than ever before to protect our democracy. In placederal laws that provide the resources and also require access to the ballot for every american. Thats what this is about. Jana thank you so much for your powerfulthey are very and speak to a lot of the challenges that we are facing in making sure we have a safe and secure election. You from question for tiffany. She wrote, we cannot let what happened with elections in wisconsin happened nationwide in november. What is the single most important thing people at home can do to make sure this upcoming stimulus package has what we need to protect our elections. Question and i love that you care enough to assert that we are right but get out and do something about it. The first thing is, show up. Nowow that means virtually because we are all at home here. Show up and go to the town hall. Go to any town hall you can. Lots of members of congress right now in the senate and the house are Holding Virtual town halls, show up and ask a and ask about voting question about the post office. ,sk a question about funding whenever they are talking about coronavirus ask about how it relates to our ability to vote without putting lives at risk. It is the single most important thing you can do. If youra center senator or representative is not holding a town hall email them or get in touch with them virtually as often as you can. Put it on your to do list. When i say call i mean this in every sense of the word. Whether it is text or facebook or however you do it. Get in touch with lots of people, now is our chance. Sales and wein the ine our voices heard, people the senate and the house will be voting very soon on the next corona package. Whoever your senators are, whether you are red or blue let us know how important this is. You cant say it often enough, boat, boat, you have to show up and devote. Get other people in game, volunteer and get others to volunteer. This is the moment. We always talk about most important election in your lifetime until you see the next one. This one really is and our functiono continue to to be the way the people who , that isr wellknown really on the line. Now that we have a blue party that plans to use this asset ategy they are willing to talk openly about it. To is the moment we have got get the rules in place to protect this vote, next november. We dont want to be in a position of talking about the long lines or people that decided not to go because they were afraid of being sick, we dont want to be in that. Osition we want to get the changes that we need. Thank you all, thank you for having me tonight. We have a long road ahead of us. Know is theat we right road for us to travel. Is a road about saving our country, this is a road about saving our democracy and i am proud to be in the fight alongside all of you, thank you for having me. So much senator warren and for painting a picture of the seriousness of the moment we are in and why it is important that everyone does whatever they can to make their voices heard. We appreciate you being here, take care. Sen. Warren thank you. Senator warren serves on the Banking Committee and is the Ranking Member of the Financial Institution and consumer act subcommittee. She also serves on the committee of armed services. I was struck by something she said about the fact that we need to get this money into the next package and these types of things are not rocket science. These postagepaid ballots online and registration, making sure there are safe laces devote, these are things happening all over the United States in varying degrees and we need to make sure these things happen nationally and that everyone gets to vote in the way that makes the most sense for them. I should use this as a moment to plug senator warren said we should all show up to town halls. Nd ask questions this is the first in a series of town halls we are putting on, we will have town halls coming up in maine, arizona, north carolina, georgia, and colorado. I think we have our next speaker ready. Our next speaker is the House Democratic caucus chair men serving the new york eighth congressional district. Thank you and good evening to everyone. Thank you for your continued work in making sure we ensure the safety and integrity of our elections. It is an honor to be here to join my good friends amy, ron, and senator Elizabeth Warren and all the distinguished guests you have. Rep. Jeffries in new york city we have been hit hard, we have been the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, pandemic that has swept across much of the world. In new york city, in brooklyn we consider ourselves to be tough and resilient area we have been hit hard with a variety of crisis ease over the past two decades. Andere knocked down by 9 11 the attack on the towers, thousands of people lost their lives and were able to recover from that. We were ultimately able to come back from the Great Recession in 2013 in my district and other districts. During Hurricane Sandy we were able to come from that. The Public Health aspect of the pandemic as well as the economic three and elements of all , 9 11, Great Recession, Superstorm Sandy wrapped up with the ferocity of the hurricane, the economic dynamics of the the traumasion and of the loss of life person experiences in 9 11. All of those elements are present now. This is a tough one for us to navigate through. In this context it is unfathomable that many of my colleagues on the others of the aisle have decided to make it harder to participate in democracy. Here in new york city [no audio] to ensure at the moment making sure we have a robust system in place for in person voting by extending out the early voting opportunities as well as the opportunities to so you can socially distance yourself it has to be a combination to ensure that last pointcan the i will make in this area is over the last three plus years we have been compelled to think about a lot of the values of this country because of the dynamics of who is at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. As a country that was founded on several ideals, founded on the principle of checks and balances and separate coequal branches of government, the independent judiciary and the preeminence of the rule of law. And a government of the people, by the people, for the people. You cannot have that government unless there is a meaningful opportunity for the American People to participate. Democracyat this reform effort is all about. From Speaker Pelosi to every Single Member of the caucus, including the 62 members of the shman class jana thank you so much, representative jeffries. We have the director of advocacy and action at the national Lgbtq Task Force action fund. On april 7 hundreds of thousands of wisconsin voters were unnecessarily worst to risk their health to exercise their right to vote. Hundreds of thousands more were potentially disenfranchised because they did not receive absentee ballots in time or could not risk their health to vote in person. These adversities are harmful to how can we make sure that the wisconsin primary is not replicated 50 times this november . Rep. Jeffries thats a great question, we want to make sure recreated 50 times plus, we have washington dc as well as the territories and those residents will be able to weigh in on who is elected as president of the u. S. Committed the next Coronavirus Relief package, they were labeling it as cares two 2. 0, cares wehave to make sure that provide the funding necessary, building upon the 400 million in cares 1. 0. Single to ensure every state and territory can fully implement mail in voting in november and that the ballots can be provided to every single voter free of charge with their ability to mail it back in without any financial burden on them. Today incall earlier the House Democratic caucus, two hundred 10 members were on including all of our leadership, and Speaker Pelosi made it clear that this is one of our Top Priorities in terms of negotiating the provisions of cares 2. 0. Our democracy is at stake and we are in the midst of a camp pandemic. We cannot have americans choose between their health and wellbeing and the wellbeing of our democracy and their ability to vindicate the value of selfgovernment of the people, by the people, for the people. We linked arms with our colleagues in the senate and all over. I welcome all the advocates joined in this effort and we will work as hard as we can to get this done. Thank you so much, chairman jeffries, for joining us. Stay safe, we appreciate the work that you have done. Chair jeffries is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the congressional progressive caucus. I want to emphasize something he , as a washington dc citizen i appreciate him remembering the district and the citizens in the district and other u. S. Territories that need funding to be able to safely vote in our elections. Isas heartened to hear this a top priority for house leadership so we are great for that. Going to hear from washington secretary of state kim wyman. Sec. Wyman this town hall is wonderful and i am honored to be a part of it. It has been interesting to hear my colleagues in the senate, house, and washington dc talk about vote by mail. This is something we have been doing in Washington State for almost a decade. But this iste me, my eighth president ial election as an elections administrator. I think my take might be different, i dont think vote by mail as an option in the covid19 social distancing environment is a democrat or republican issue. This is about instilling confidence in the public that our elections are fair and that they are accessible and secure. The job of an Elections Official is to make sure that the most leftleaning progressive democrat to the most conservative right wing republican and every voter in between believes that the election was accessible and secure, for those things to happen it may feel unfair. What we need to be focusing on as a country is building out the capacity for these states that are going to have elections and primaries in the coming month generalhe november election, building out the infrastructure so we can conduct elections that have those compensated controls to send a ballot to every voter in their state and every state will need to have options that vary because some states are simply not ready to flip the switch with two to 3 of ballots being cast by mail. We do need to make sure those states have options and that they can build out the infrastructure so that they can to an increase of maybe 50 75 of ballots being cast by mail. A real strong possibility in many states across the country area they will need to have the infrastructure in terms of space in the building, highspeed scanning equipment to scan the ballot envelopes coming back in and sorting them, and doing that in an efficient manner. Building out the capacity to backfill a lot of these employees on a seasonal basis to process ballots and work in polling places that now cannot work. When you are talking about a workforce with the average age of 70, and our state two thirds of our workers would not be able to return this fall and help in those elections. We will have recruitment efforts nationwide of workers to backfill those positions and we will have this on hand in case some of those workers i think if we all hold together and stop worrying about how this is going to advantage or disadvantage the party that we are in or the other party and start focusing on how are we going to make sure that people believe the results of the election, we are all going to be better for it. This is what Elections Officials across the country are working on and i look forward to working with everyone on this town hall meeting to get to that. Jana thank you, secretary. About democrats or republicans, this is about benefiting americans and making sure every citizen can access the ballot. We have a question for you, this the issuery, who is Campaign Director for the alliance for youth action. This is a twopart question. Be toould your advice fellow secretaries of state who have concerns related to the partisan implications, implementation, challenges and security of vote by mail . State secretaries of ensure there are Resources Available to educate young people and firsttime voters about the vote by mail process so they are prepared to participate in november . Sec. Wyman what i have been saying to my colleagues across the country is, first and foremost, assess what your infrastructure is currently and with the 50 states, the territories, and d. C. , keeping in mind what resources you have. If you are a state like mine that is vote by mail you have different challenges and infrastructures than a state where 3 or 4 of votes are cast by an absentee ballot. How are you going to mitigate the fact that you will have a dramatic increase in absentee ballots . Do you have centralized tabulation machines who can put the ballot counting through your system. Hundreds of thousands of ballots that need to be counted when you are counting those in polling places across the state. Advice wouldece of be to check in with states like hington or oregon they have experience doing vote by mail elections and they learn from our hard lessons and sometimes they came from mistakes. The things that work well to make vote by mail work in our state. Is not only to the youth vote, it is to any boater that has not voted absentee before. Social media platforms, doing it in the news media, and doing it in print form that can be sent to voters to give them information and provide Services Online so they can have the questions answered and be. Uccessful thank you so much for joining us today. She has been speaking virtually across the country with emma craddick and republican secretaries of state to emphasize the importance of working across the aisle to secure our elections this year. Mail havelike vote by popularity across the political spectrum, as do Solutions Like early voting, online, and sameday voting registration helping these things come together in one so people can choose from a variety of options to cast their vote. Have remarks from former Republican National Committee Chairman michael steele. He discusses the bipartisan nature of protecting the right to vote with universal vote by mail during the covid19 pandemic. I want to thank our partners at represent us who provided this video from one of their virtual roundtables. Lets turn to the video. Belief it has always been if you make the case for the people that its a good thing you dont have to worry about the vote, the vote will be there for you. I can get democrats to vote for me, she can get democrats to vote for her they can get republicans to vote for them. If you allow voters to stayathome and vote is crazy if you look at who makes a lot of voters are 50 and over. Are not going to go and stand in line at the polls. They are the volunteers in a lot of places at these polling places. To disenfranchise them that way to me is boneheaded, it makes no sense. Dont think that when it comes in november, think people are going to raise their im going to be out there screaming. Thats what every american has to do. You have to take this seriously, because if you dont they will strip as much of it away from you as they can. They will continue to gerrymander you into districts that dont make sense we it is the way we define our government. You have to stand up. You have to be loud. Work the scrivers state. Volunteer, be a part of the solution in changing direction we are now headed when it comes to voting in this country. 45 turnout is crazy. It doesnt make sense. Young people, get off your behinds. Take it seriously. Go vote. So thanks again to our friends that represent us for providing this video which just further emphasizes why this is not just an issue for democrats or a republican issue but one that hits at the core of our democracy. Thank you to all of our government leaders for speaking with us today. We appreciate your work to stand up and advocate for our right to safely access the ballot box in our primary elections and in our elections in november. This is the National Kickoff for protection of american democracies. We are speaking with elected officials and Voting Rights experts about what Actions Congress must take to ensure we can all safely and securely exercise our right to vote this year. To learn more please go to our website at declarationforamericandemocracy. Org. For xt guests advocate. Eople who are challenged they are further challenge bid the complications over the coronavirus. Ill turn it over to the and c. E. O. Good evening. Thank you so much. Im the president and c. E. O. Of the Leadership Conference on civil and human rights, the coalition of more than 200 National Organizations working to build an america as good as its ideal. Thank you for hosting this call. The Leadership Conference is proud to be part of the coalition to ensure our democracy works for all of us and i want to thank senator klobuchar, senator wyden, and all of my colleagues on this call for their leadership. Our nation is in a state of emergency and so too is our democracy. We all saw what happened in wisconsin with voters forced to choose between their safety and their vote. We cannot allow that to happen ever again. Seven months until the general election. States have no time to spare to prepare for november amid this pandemic. Given this countrys history not allowing voters of color access to the ballot box. Congress must ensure that every persons voice and vote counts as we build our future together. This is a massive undertaking. Congress recently passed a relief package but the bill fell woefully short of protecting our democracy. Only 400 million for state election assistance. They are calling on congress for in dditional 3. 6 billion dditional funding. For a ple have pitched national solution. Vote verse to pass a clear range of options to cast their ballots. T can disenfranchise voters of color. Surveys show that states reject ballots at far greater rateses for plaques and latinos than white voters. Sometimes it is mistrust of the ballot process. The mail system can also impose hurdles for native American Voters who do not have addresses and are living on tribal land. Voting by mail does not adequately serve communities that move frequently such as students and low income families. Vote by now is an important option. There has to be guardrails in place including prepaid postage, an bility to postmark absentee ballot on the election day. States need to give voters options for safe voting amid a pandemic. States have got to ensure full voter access by establishing safe in person polling places. They can also extend it for at least two weeks prior to the election. Registration voter functions. Thes going to require a mass i Voter Education effort to make sure everyone novers the changes. There is no question no one should have to choose between Public Health and a functioning democracy. Decisions our leaders make now are going to determine not just how we weather the storm but what kind of democracy we have when it is over. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Now i want to turn it over to michelle. Michelle, i think youre on mute. Just unmute. I am muted. Thank you. The Voting Rights specialist for the National Visibility rights network. We are based in washington, d. C. But our member organizations are in every state, territory and district in the United States and are mandated through the help america vote act. If i can tell you one thing tonight, whether or not there is a global pandemic, americas system is not acceptable to people with disabilities. The federal government has studied this and we found polling places, less than half have compliant with americans with disabilities act. You might say what can possibly be less accessible than that . Actually vote by mail. There are a lot of compelling reasons right now for vote by mail. Were supposed to be staying at distancing. Ally unfortunately say you have a voter who is blind and they go to their voting place and are given a pen and ballot to fill out. They cannot fill it out and protect the secret serve that ballot. If you that mail that voter the same ballot to his home, he does not magically become sighted when he seths down at his kitchen table. We have to have options that make voting by mail accessible to everyone including people with disabilities. In many states you can have a ballot sent to you electronically and you can mark it on the technology that you have at home but typically that requires at some point in the process being able to print out that ballot. Once again, youre with a piece f paper you cannot verify. If you cant see it. Now you add in the covid19 pandemic if you cant leave your home. I dont know about you, im at home and i dont even own a printer. That method is not accessible to me now when i cant go to my office or do down the street to my local library to print out that ballot. There are a handful of systems that allow you to complete your ballot but are constantly under attack and they produce a paper ballot that is tallied and maintained by your election it is which means produced and the voter never sees it. They cant verify their vote. We have made a lot of Progress Making mail more accessible. Were not all the way there. That becomes a really big problem when we talk about vote by mail capacity to protect the most vulnerable. As you heard from senator wyden, you also heard something from senator warren, the need to protect inperson voting options. I believe that is true. There are some people for whom vote by mail is not going to work. We have to have inperson voting options. What concerns me is we cant say were so sorry, our vote by mail inaccessible so people with disabilities, considered among the most vulnerable in terms of covid19, you the ones wholl have to take to the street. Everyone who is eligible deserves to cast their ballot but everyone who casts their ballot deserves to live. We simply have to do better by americans with disabilities and make every method of casting your ballot fully accessible compliant with the americans with disabilities act. Our democracy depends on it. Thank you so much, for your very compelling remarks and for reminding us that the fight to protect every americans right to vote has been going on since this country began and it still continues today, especially for communities of color, voters with disabilities and others. So as we look to find solutions to voting during this pandemic, we also need to know that vote by mail is not the easy answer. It is not the only owns. We have to be careful how we talk about it. It must be implemented in concert with other options that ity for ccessible other voters. Thank you. So what are some of the ways that what are some of the the forms that we can implement that will provide accessibility to the most americans that we can . Now well hear from an expert that will speak to those Important Solutions that must be to ted so people dont have choose between their safety or their vote. I would like to introduce max feldman. Thanks so much. Derlarings nk the for american democracy for holding this event. Let me start by adding my voice to those who have already called for congress to appropriate 4 billion for our elections this year. Were going to have to make serious modifications to our election systems. We cant afford to do democracy on the cheap. Why do we need 4 billion . You heard a lot of the reasons already. They have put together a plan how to protect the 2020 election from coronavirus. Were working with other advocates on this call to get it implemented in the states. We believe that states should offer every voter to opportunity to cast a mail ballot. At the same time states should expand in person votings options. This is important as you heard Many Americans cant or wont vote by mail. In addition, states are going to have to bolster their Voter Registration registration capacity, to register voters online. Make sure they are well aware of changes to voting rules and procedures. The modifications we need to make can be broken into five categories. We need to ensure that in person voting options for those who cant or wont vote by mail are safe and sanitary. Everything from relocate polling places to re to allow for social distancing and enhancing election day resources to minimize lines. Second we believe states should expand early in person option. The have had is to spread out voting over more days and locations and minimize crowds on election day. Third, a universal mail voting option. The debate over mail voting has grown increasingly sharp. Most states allow some voters to cast a mail ballot. The question for most of the country is whether all voters can vote a mail ballot, it is whether Election Officials will be prepared for a surge in use. It is something they need to start working on now. Get ready. It means printing enough ballots and processing those ballots and requests for them. Implementing reasonable nondiscriminatory processes for accounting and validating those ballots. Historically most people have registered to vote in person. Were anticipating a surge in online registration as a result to have virus. Generally they need to up their capacity to process registration applications are registration deadlines as needed. We need it is not enough to make the changes. Voters need to be informed about them especially given the risk of serious disinformation campaigns around the election. Why dont we emphasize we need to ensure Language Access and Disability Access are counted. We can do this. These are significant changes but they are achievable. We need congress to step up and give them the money they need as soon as possible. We have time to protect our election against the crisis but. Have no time to waste i urge you to make your demands in the coming months. Thank you. Thank you so much for talking us through those incredibly important and detailed solutions. Appreciate you being here. Common sense policy is why accessible early voting, posted page, no excuse vote by mail will go a long way ensuring americans can have their voices heard this november. Congress must provide the 4 billion needed to implement these reforms. Our next speakers come from two organizations with chapters all over the United States. First we have deborah, the executive director of the league of women voters from wisconsin wholl give us a tale based on her experience with the states recent primary election and then well hear from karen, the president of common cause wholl discuss how citizens can exert pressure on their local governments. Deborah . Thank you so much and thank you for all you do. Everyone in the nation saw a good many things went wrong with wisconsins spring election and president ial primary. One of the biggest issues was the contradictory messaging sent by the governor about holding an election. He issued an executive order to be safer at home but exempted voting from the order. He called a special legislative session hoping they would call off the election. When they failed to do so, he called for the election to be postponed. The court determined he did not have the authority to do so. It was a tremendous challenge in such a short period of time. The need for so many voters to absentee ballot option, not all voters have access to computers and internet. The elimination of the special voting deputies to help those who are shut ins and disabilities could not cast their ballots and the exceptance of people of color, nose known to have same day registration and voting rates could be disen ranchised. It emboldened the majority to act in their own political interests. At the league of women voters in wisconsin, we work closely with the National League leadership and staff on everything from litigation to support our messaging and we took the time and the moment and continued to learn from in this experience and will work to ensure that the greatest number of vow voters can successfully exercise their right to vote in all of our upcoming elections. No voter should have to choose between their health and their right to vote. In wisconsin or in any other state. We want to do our part to support those communities who l were disproportionately impacted in this process. It was milwaukee for us but it could have just as easily have been any other similar community in your state. And while wisconsin proved to be the test case of sorts around the importance of ensuring adequate, safe and in person polling places, it will be important that we do what we can to avoid this situation across the country for the 40plus state who is still have primaries between now and summer to make sure that we are all best positioned for november. Thank you for the opportunity to share our experience at the league of women voters of wisconsin. And i hope you all remain safe and healthy through this election. Thank you so much, deborah. We really appreciate you telling that story and were all really eager to work with you and activists around the country to make sure Something Like that never happens again. And now i want to turn it over to karen. Thank you. Thank you. As president of common cause, im have been proud to represent our 1. 2 million members and staff in 30 states as we work on a broad ai ray of democracy issues and the reforms needed. I want to thank each of you for joining us to hear about this critical issue and to thank senators klobuchar, wyden, warren, Hakeem Jeffries and for their leadership to protect our elections. It presents an unprecedented channel to our country and ensuring Public Health and bolstering our economy are interbetweened with protecting the health of our democracy and the right to vote. Leaders and our allies are working on a daily basis with Election Officials at the state level to push for a package of reforms that will make voting safe and accessible for everyone and the challenge is that in each state, it varies their infrastructure wr whether they vote by mail. We passed a vote by mail measure in colorado. We have same day registration and many reforms but states are in a different place but we need to rely on experts at the state level. We need to work on how we can make voting as accessible and safed a possible for people and there are many ways for you to engage in that work. We have some states like alaska, indiana, New Hampshire and new york, whether it is democratic control or republican control, that are rising to the challenge and expanding voting opportunities through different reforms, but the challenges also some states are politicizing this effort. Michigan, texas and others where some republican officials are fight against modest changes to boost voting access and are openly blocking common senses reforms that could protect the health of voters. Governor doocy said he is opposed to conducting a primary by mail. To xas, the state refused tend absentee ballots and a court had to come in to make sure all eligible people in texas could in michigan, the city of state democrat benson said her state needs 40 to hold measure. Vote by mail the Republican Legislature wont go along with it. These are the kind of reforms hat by the court. People who say this is plil politicized, they are wrong. We are doing if youre you can connect with common cause. Outlining some of the reforms. To urge congress as you heard from other speakers to put money on the table. We need 4 billion total to go to states to they can pay for these reforms and pay for the Public Education effort to make that happen. Youll hear later in the call we also need to call republicans in the senate in particular and ask them to support that 4 billion and also write letters to the editor and other ways to reach your members of congress because remember they are also sheltering in place. Lastly, i want to say i want to thank the declaration for american democracy for pulling us all together to talk about this issue and for you joining us in this fight. We can win this fight, but we need your help. Thank you so much for deborah and karen for your really inspiring remarks. We appreciate you being here. We look forward to continuing this work together. So one thing is very clear from our last few speakers and that is that there is no one size fits all approach to ensuring that every voter can access the ballot. That is why Congress Must pass common sense reforms like those we discussed here today. Safe early voting, no excuse vote by mail. Online voter regs registration and other requirements to ensure the safety of voters and poll workers. Congress must allocate the 4 billion needed by the states to get this done. If you feel as outrainled as i did, listening to stories of disenfraveragement, this Americas Panel has the answers. I would like to introduce the political director at stand up america and Christine Wood for Public Citizen democracy for people campaign. Why dont you kick things off . Thank you so much. Great to be with you all. Im a Senior Campaigns manager. I just want to start by thanking all of you, the thousands of people that are viewing this and will come to see this live stream for taking part in this effort. We are clearly living in such a Pivotal Moment in history. Theaverping we do, all of our decisions will impact what happens in coming months, years and decades. It is so critically important that we take the time to educate ourselves and others about the vital reforms that we have been hearing about all evening to safeguard our democracy. It is simply unacceptable for people to have to choose between their health and their vote. It is fundamentally unamerican for people to have to make that choice and we are working to try to make sure that people can participate in our democracy without putting their health in jeopardy. As we have been hearing this evening, congress is going to be voting on another round of stimulus. Were asking for 4 billion or the allocated for these reforms. E declaration has been mobilizing our 150 organizations. We represent millons of americans that are concerned about a wide range of issues. We have come together to advocate for a spectrum. Campaign finance reform. Money in politics. Now we are fully focused on this fight that is right in front of us. Nothing could be more important than making sure that people can safely participate in the upcoming election. We have heard from the members of congress. We very much value all to have leadership that we have seen on the hill. We have heard from policy experts who have laid out those reforms. I myself and my colleagues will be speaking with you in just a minute. Represent the grassroots mobilization piece. That is where the change really happens. As i mentioned, we represent millions if not tens of millions of americans in order to achieve these objectives that were hearing about tonight. We need to make sure that our voices are heard and that means we need to use all to have tools that are available at our disposal to put pressure on congress, particularly the senate right now and there is a number of things that can be done and it is absolutely essential that we takes these actions because believe it or not, members of congress are really paying attention to how many calls they get. They are paying attention to how the media covers them particularly in their state or district. Every single phone call, letter to the editor, every share of this video can help bring the awareness that is needed in order to win this funding and afeguard our deputy democracy. I encourage dwroverpb share this and take part in the actions and get involved with americans for democracy. Lets turn it over to brett. Hi, everyone. Im from stand up america. Im here to ask you to take three minutes out of your day to Call Congress to demand the 4 billion. We need to expand vote by mail and early voting. They have already made over 110,000 calls to congress. Just last week we drove tens of thousands of additional calls with the help of the visible and this amazing coalition. As someone who has worked on capitol hill , i can tell you these calls are noticed and they make a difference. Please call your senators. 18884154527. Ask them to provide 4 billion in funding to secure our elections in the next Coronavirus Relief package. Ou can find that number at declarationforamericandemocracy. Org call. With your help no voter will have to choose between participating in the democracy and their health. Thank you. Hi, everyone. Im Christine Wood. Im here to talk to you today act the power of publishing letters to the editor. Letters to the editor they have the ability to educate your community and catch the attention of your members of congress. Now that money publications are online, we have greater opportunities to make an impact by sharing our letters on social media. Tonight were asking everyone watching to submit a letter to the editor to your paper this week. We have published an online tool that can help you do that. First lets go over some best practices. Every letter to the editor should include an introduction, a briefing on the problem and a clear solution or ask. So for my letter, i might start by sail im a lifelong resident of syracuse, new york. Now i describe the problem and the solution. Specific they the coronavirus pandemic is putting our health and democracy at risk and we need at least 4 billion to make sure every person has safe options to vote. Then i restate my my ask which is that Congress Must have 4 billion in the next stimulus bill to secure our election. Lastly, i spell check it. I reach out to my local paper to submitly letter and follow up on my submission. Now my ask is for everyone on this call to schedule time this week to write a letter to the editor. You can use our tool. Is at declarationforamericandemocracy. Org. Together we can show the verwhelming support having secure elections. Get started today. Thanks. Great. And you, rio, brett christine. Most importantly, thank you to everyone who tuned in to todays bipartisan town hall. Cspans washington jourm live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up this morning, a discussion of the coronavirus pandemic ice impact on current and future Health Policy with bipartisan policy Health Project director and well talk about the role data and metrics play in combating the coronavirus with the university of washingtons ali. Join the discussion
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