Hillary Clinton on Wednesday renewed her calls for voting reform, warning that the United States needs to “act now” in order to ensure that citizens can “safely cast a ballot in November” as members of her party eagerly pursue universal mail-in voting.
“GOP officials and conservative jurists forced Wisconsin voters yesterday to choose between risking their lives to vote and being disenfranchised. It’s unconscionable,” she said following the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Gov. Tony Evers’ (D) executive order delaying in-person voting in his state.
“We need to act now to make sure every citizen can safely cast a ballot in November,” she added:
GOP officials and conservative jurists forced Wisconsin voters yesterday to choose between risking their lives to vote and being disenfranchised. It’s unconscionable.
We need to act now to make sure every citizen can safely cast a ballot in November.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 8, 2020
While the twice-failed presidential candidate did not provide specifics in her latest call to action, she has repeatedly signaled her support of mail-in voting, urging it to be “the norm going forward.” She has also frequently touted the reforms presented by her former campaign attorney Marc Elias, a progressive figure who has attempted to challenge existing voting methods by seeding lawsuits across the country:
Congress needs to act to make voting by mail the norm going forward, with the specifics outlined by election expert Marc Elias below to make it accessible for all. https://t.co/K2TlHIJx2d
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 18, 2020
States must take concrete steps now to make sure every citizen can be heard in November, no matter where we are by then in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. https://t.co/OFIPHqcdM0
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 5, 2020
In addition to mail-in voting, Elias is promoting curbside voting, “vote anywhere” rules, and ballot harvesting — a method House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) packed in her own version of the last coronavirus relief measure.
Elias outlined his vision in a piece for The Atlantic, which Breitbart News detailed:
“There is no question that voting by mail is an important part of the solution. It mitigates the problems of long lines and fosters social distancing. But the specific rules used to implement vote by mail may determine whose vote is counted and whose is not,” he continued, listing four mail-in voting “safeguards,” including free or prepaid postage and the ability of “community organizations” to “help collect and deliver voted, sealed ballots.”
A lack of community organizations “assisting” with the collection and delivery of ballots, he argued, effectively serves as a “disadvantage” to minority voters.
Meanwhile, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is promoting a bill she introduced last month, the Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act of 2020 (NDEBA), which would make “no-excuse absentee vote-by-mail” a universal reality:
What's happening at polling locations across Wisconsin right now is outrageous. We cannot continue to ignore the threat that #COVID19 has on our elections.
We must plan ahead for Nov. & pass my bill to keep all Americans safe by expanding #VoteByMail & extending early voting.
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) April 7, 2020
Remember this. Remember this and call your state & federal officials. Are they supporting election reform? Do they believe in the right to vote? Are they helping us pass my bill with @RonWyden to ensure safe vote by mail and early voting at polling locations across the country? https://t.co/LRQOlIJ2Tn
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) April 7, 2020
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Klobuchar’s former presidential challenger, also supports the bill and has issued a series of potential reforms herself, including but not limited to a ban on cleaning voter rolls and a change in voter ID laws, allowing an individual voting in person to vote “with a sworn statement of identity instead of a voter ID.”
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