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Making sure that you have a
robust system in place for in-person voting by extending
out the early voting opportunities as well as the
opportunities to vote, perhaps on election day in multiple
polling sites, so you can socially distance yourself in
an effective way. It's gotta be a combination to ensure that
every American can vote the last point that I'll make in
this area is that over the last three. Plus years we've we've
been compelled to think about a lot of the founding values of
this country because of the dynamics of who's serving in
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue right now, and we know that it's a
country that was founded on several high ideals founded on
the principle of checks and balances separate and coequal
branches of government the independent judiciary, the free
and Fair press the preeminence of the rule of law and
Government of the people by the people and for the people and
you can't have self government unless there's a meaningful
opportunity for the American people to participate and at
the end of the day. That's what this democracy reform effort is
all about and in the House from Speaker Pelosi down through
every single member of the Caucus, including the 60 - two
members of the freshman class. We are committed to
bringing our democracy. To life in November, thank you so much
Representative Jeffrey's. We really appreciate you being
here and we do have a good question for me for you from
Stacey Long Simmons, the director of advocacy and action
at the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund, She writes
that on April seventh hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin
voters were unnecessarily forced to risk their health in
order to exercise their. Vote hundreds of thousands more or
potentially disenfranchised because they didn't receive
absentee balance in time or could not risk their health to
vote in person. These adversities are particularly
harmful to racial and ethnic minorities. Older adults LGBTQ
people and others. So how can we make sure that the Wisconsin
primary isn't replicated 50 times this November? Yeah. It's
a great question. We wanna make sure that it's not replicated a
50 times plus. US because, Of course, we have Washington DC,
as well as the territories in Washington, DC, at least those
residents will be able to weigh in on who is elected as
President of the United States of America is a great question.
we are committed as we negotiate as my colleagues in
the Senate have said the next Corona virus relief package
which in the House at least, were labeling as cares two
point. Oh sorry for all of these mathematical equations, I
know my Senate colleagues have label it. Covid- 19 four Point
Oh, but in the House cast It's all of you that we have to make
sure that we provide the funding necessary building upon
the four million 400 million dollars
That was in cares. one point Oh, but we have to go much
further to ensure that every single state can full in the
territories can fully implement mailing voting in November and
at the ballots can be provided to every single voter free of
charge. With their ability to mail it back in and or drop it
off if they choose but to mail it back in without any
financial burden on them and so we had a call earlier today the
House Democratic Caucus about 210 members were on including
all of our leadership and Speaker Pelosi once again made
it clear and this is the view of the members as well that
this is one of our top priorities in terms of
negotiating the provisions. Of cares to point out because our
democracy is at state, we're in the midst of a pandemic, we
cannot force Americans to have to choose between their health
and well-being and the well-being of our democracy and
their ability to vindicate that precious value of self
government government of the people by the people and for
the people and so we link arms with our colleagues in the
Senate and all of. A common calls and all of the advocates
who are joined in this effort and we're gonna work as hard as
we can to get this done. Thank you so much Chairman Jefferson
Jeffrey's for joining us today. Please stay safe out there and
we appreciate all the work that you've done. Thank you very
much cheer. Jeffrey's is a member of the Judiciary
Committee and Budget Committee and a member of the
Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive
Caucus, and I just wanna emphasize something he said as
a Washington DC citizen, I appreciate him remembering the
district and remembering that the citizens in the district
and in the other US territories that also need funding to be
able to safely vote in our elections this. And I was also
heartened to hear that this is a top priority for House
leadership, so we're very grateful for that. And now
we're going to hear from Washington Secretary of State
Kim Wyman Terry Wiseman. Hello. I'm Jenna. Thank you so much
for putting this together. This town Hall is wonderful and I'm
really honored to be a part of it. it's been really
interesting to hear my colleagues in in the Senate and
the House in Washington, DC. talk about vote by mail and
this is something here in Washington State. We've been
doing for almost a decade now as a state and I realized is
gonna date me, but this is my eighth presidential election as
an election administrator, and I mentioned that because I
think my take might be a little different than what we've heard
from the speakers already and that I don't think vote by mail
as an option in the coveted 19 social distancing environment
we find ourselves in 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
and election officials jobs really is to make sure that the
most left leaning Progressive Democrat to the most
conservative right wing Republican and every voter in
between believes that the election was accessible and
secure because for those things to happen, it makes the
election fair and it makes it accurate and so really what we
need to be focusing on as a country. Is building out the
capacity for these States that are gonna have elections
primaries in the in the coming months, and then, of course
building to the November general election building out
the infrastructure so that we can conduct elections that have
this compensating controls to balance out sending a ballot
potentially to every single voter in their state and each
day is gonna need to have options that will vary because
some States are just simply not ready to flip the switch from
you know two. Three percent of their ballots being cast by
mail to casting a hundred percent of their ballots by
mail, but what we do need to do is make sure those States have
options and that they can build out the infrastructure so that
they can see an increase of maybe I don't know 50 percent
to 70 - five percent of their ballots being cast by mail. I
think that's a real strong possibility in many States
across the country. They're gonna need to have the
infrastructure in terms of space in their buildings to
have people process those ballots. Have
high-speed scanning equipment to scan the ballot envelopes
that are coming back in and sort them and do it in an
efficient manner and then also build out the capacity to back
fill all of these employees who they use on a seasonal basis to
process ballots work in polling places that now can't work when
you're talking about a workforce whose average age is
about 70, I know and in our state, at least I would say
that two thirds of our our workers are not gonna be able
to return. This fall and helping those elections so
we're gonna have to also have the biggest recruitment effort
nationwide of workers to to back fill those positions and
have months on on hand in case some of those workers lift and
I think if we all pull together and stop worrying about how it
is going to advantage or disadvantage the party that
we're in or the other party and really start focusing on how
are we gonna make sure that people believe the results of
the election? we're all gonna be better for it. I know we can
achieve it, so that's what election officials across the
country are working on and I look forward to working with
the people on this call at this town Hall meeting to get to
that end. Thank you, Secretary Women and of course, you've
said it just right. This isn't about benefiting Democrats.
This isn't about benefiting Republicans. It's about
benefiting Americans and making sure that every citizen can
access the ballot and so we we have a question for you. this
is from Gary Decker, who is the issue campaigns Director for
the Alliance for Youth Action. this one 's kind of a two
parter, so you'll forgive us for that. what would your
advice be to fellow secretaries of States who have concerns The
partisan implications implementation challenges and
security of vote by mail and then how can secretaries of
States ensure that there are resources available to educate
young people and first-time voters about the vote by mail
process so that they feel prepared to participate in
November. Well, the the thing I would say and have been saying
quite frankly to my colleagues across the country is first and
foremost assess what your your infrastructure is currently and
with the 50 States. The territories and Washington DC,
keeping in mind what resources you have and again, it's gonna
depend on where you're at right now with your absentee voting.
So if you're a state like mine that is completely vote by
mail, you have different challenges and infrastructure
than a state, where maybe three or four percent of your votes
are cast by an absentee ballot. so first and foremost do that
infrastructure check and how are you going to mitigate the
fact that you will have a dramatic increase in absentee
ballots. Do you have centralized tabulation machines
that can put the throughput of ballot counting through your
system, hundreds of thousands of ballots that need to be
counted, maybe in a Central environment when you're right
now, counting those in polling places across your state and
and I guess my biggest piece of advice would be really to to
check in with States like Washington, Oregon Utah and in
Colorado, those States that have a lot of experience doing
vote by mail elections. Learn from us learn from our our hard
lessons and sometimes I came from mistakes, but also the
things that have worked well to make Mobile male work in our
States and then finally in terms of of voter outreach,
it's not only to the youth vote. It's to any voter who
hasn't voted absentee before and really it. it's multiple
platforms. just like you would any voter information campaign
doing it in social media platforms doing it in the news
media and doing it in print form that you send to voters
and get them information provide that those services
online so that they can have their questions and. And can be
successful in making sure that their ballot gets counted when
it's returned to election officials. great. Thank you so
much Secretary Woman for joining us today. So Secretary Woman has been
speaking virtually across the country with both Democratic
and Republican secretaries of States to emphasize the
importance of working across the aisle to secure our
elections this year, and in fact solutions like she spoke
about like vote by mail have popularity across the political
spectrum as do solutions like early voting online online and
same-day voter registration, and these things all need to
kind of come together in one so that people can choose from a
variety of options to be able to cast their vote. Next up, we
have a video of remarks from former Republican National
Committee Chairman Michael Steele in this video, he
discusses the important bipartisan nature of protecting
every American's right to vote with universal vote by mail
during the Kobe in 19 pandemic and I wanna thank our partners
that represent us who provided us with this video from one of
their recent Unreal Unreal virtual roundtables let's turn
to the video again going back to my time in public office. My
belief has always been that if you make the case. People If
that's a good case, you don't have to worry about the vote
right, your vote is gonna be there for you and I can get
them across to vote for me secondary can get Democrats to
vote for her. We can get Republic Democrats and get
Republicans to vote for them. So why is this a long head of
view? it's looking largely through a political lens, So
think that if you allow voters to stay at home and both is
that somehow purchase your own vote is is crazy. Why because
we look at who makes up the Republican vote, just for
example, a lot of voters 50 at. Alright, so they have a larger
proportion of elderly voters and vote for them. They're not
gonna go and stand in line at a poll number one number two.
They are the volunteers and a lot of cases at these polling
places. so they're not there to volunteer so to disenfranchise
them that way to me is just bone headed. It makes no sense.
I don't think that when it comes to voting this November
is someone's gonna raise their hand and propose you know what
I just don't think we should hold the National election
because of color 19. Well, I'm gonna be out there screaming
from every mountain I can have been find hell No, and that's
what every American. To do you have to take this seriously
because if you don't they will Strip as much of it away from
you as they can, they will continue to journey manager you
into the districts that don't make sense. They will continue
to move your polling places so Grandma catch two buses to vote
and guess what grandma just don't go vote. Well, that's too
bad right and so we own this franchise. it was given to us
under the Constitution. It is the way we define our
government, those buildings and those elected officials don't
get in the game. We do you gotta stand up. You gotta be
loud and work with the secretaries of States help them
put in place. Volunteer be a part of the solution and
changing the direction we are now headed when it comes to
voting in this country. 50 percent Turnout 40 - five
percent turnout is a crazy. It's doesn't make sense. young
people get off your behind. take a seriously So, thanks again to our friends
at represent us for providing this video, which just further
emphasizes why this isn't an issue for just Democrats or
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, now
for those of you who are just joining in this is the National
kickoff of the declaration for American Democracy, Protect our
vote Virtual town Hall series we. Speaking with elected
officials and voting rights experts about what action
Congress must take to ensure that we can all safely and
securely exercise our right to vote this year. To learn more,
please go to our website at Declaration for American
Democracy dot org. Now, our next set of speakers represent
organizations advocating for equal access to the ballot box,
particularly for vulnerable communities who already face
significant challenges to participating in our democracy.
These challenges are being further exacerbated because of
the complications of the Corona virus. So to start us off, I
will turn it over to Vanity Gupta, the President of CEO,
the President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil
and Human Rights, followed by Michelle Bishop, a voting
rights specialist at the. Disability rights Network
Vinita Hi good evening. Thank you so much. I'm Vinita, Gupta,
President and CEO of The Leadership Conference on
Several and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200
National organizations working to build an America as good as
its ideals. Thank you to the declaration for American
democracy. For hosting this call, the leadership conference
is proud to be part of the Defense Coalition to ensure
that our democracy works for all of us and I wanna thank.
Senator Klobuchar Senator Wyden Senator Warren Congressman
Jeffries and Secretary Whiteman and all of my colleagues on
this call for their leadership for fair and safe elections.
Our state nation is in the state of emergency and so to is
our democracy. We all saw what happened in Wisconsin with
voters forced to choose between their safety and their vote,
and we cannot allow that to happen ever again when under
seven months until the general election States have. Next to
no time to spare in preparing for November, a mid this
pandemic given this country's dark history of denying voters
of color access to the ballot box. be happy for vigilant to
guard against any obstacles to prevent our communities from
voting. That means that Congress must ensure that every
person's voice and vote count as we build our future
together. This is a massive undertaking. Congress recently
passed a relief package, but the bill fell hopefully short
of protecting our democracy. A lot of makeup is approved own.
400 million dollars for state election assistance civil
rights groups are calling on Congress to secure an
additional three point six billion dollars in additional
funding to afford every voter a fair safe and accessible
opportunity to ask their ballot. Some people have
pitched vote by mail as the universal solution to voter
access. There's no question that vote by mail is an
essential part of an auction response, admit the pandemic,
but voters have to also have a very clear range of options to
cast their ballot focusing exclusive. Unveiled by we all
can actually just franchise voters of color and other
communities who historically faced barriers to the ballot
survey show that States reject absentee ballots at far greater
rates for black and Latino voters and other voters of
color than for White voters and studies have also shown that
voters of color vote by mail at lower rates, sometimes due to
historical mistrust of the postal system in the mail and
ballot process. go by mail systems can also impose hurdles
made of American voters. May not live or have postal
addresses would let that are living on tribal lands given
that many really have limited and access to to postal
services and the like and voting by mail does not
adequately serve communities that tend to move frequently
such as the students and low income families. But vote by
mail remains are really important option. They're just
have to be guard rails in place, including prepaid
postage, the ability to post Mark an absentee ballot on our
forum election. Day relaxing technical requirements and
increased availability of drop boxes in all communities States
need to give voters options for safe voting immediate pandemic
along with expanding vote by mail States of got to ensure
full voter access by establishing safe in person
polling places stage would also extend early voting periods for
at least two weeks prior to the election. Expand online voter
registration options and distribute information to the
public about voting changes. It's gonna require a man. Voter
education effort to make sure everyone knows of the new
changes there is no question that no one should have to
choose between public health and functioning democracy The
decisions that our leaders make now are gonna determine not
just how we weather the storm that kind of democracy. We're
gonna have when it's over. Thank you so much. Thank you so much Benita and
now I wanna turn it over to Michelle. I'm Michelle, I think
you're on mute so you just wanna unusual. I am muted.
Thank you. This is Michelle Bishop. I'm the voting rights
specialist for the National Disability Rights Network. We
are a National Membership Association based in
Washington, DC, but our member organizations are in every
state territory and district in the United States and are
mandated to the Help America Vote Act to protect access to
the vote for people with disabilities. If I could tell
you one thing tonight is that whether or not there's a global
pandemic America's electoral system is not accessible to
people with disabilities. The federal government has studied
this. Found that polling places less than half are actually
compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act somewhere
around 40 percent. Now, you might say what could possibly
be less accessible than that, And unfortunately, the answer
to that question is actually vote by mail. There are a lot
of compelling reasons right now for vote by mail. We're
supposed to be staying at home. We're supposed to be socially
distancing and vote by mail enables that for a lot of
folks. Unfortunately, let's say you have a voter who's blind
who goes to their polling place and they're given a pen and a
paper ballot and has to fill it out that voter who's blind can.
See and fill out that ballot privately and independently and
we'll protecting the secrecy of that ballot. Well if you mail
that same voter a paper ballot to his home, he doesn't
magically become sighted when he sits down at his kitchen
table. It's still inaccessible We have to have options that
make vote by mail accessible for everyone, including people
with all types of disabilities. The closest we've come at this
point and we've made some progress thanks in large part
to those vote by mail States. In many of those States, you
can have a ballot sent to electronically and you can
market on the techno. That you have at home, but typically
that requires at some point in the process being able to print
out that ballot. once again, you're left with a piece of
paper that you can't verify if you can't see it or can't
return if you can't physically handle the paper even under
normal circumstances. now you add in the covid- 19 pandemic
where we can't leave our homes and I don't know about you. but
I'm also at home and I don't even own a printer so that
method isn't even accessible to me right now when I can't go to
my office or Down the streets, my local library to print out
that ballot. There are a handful of systems that
actually allow you to electronically return your
completed ballot, but they are constantly under attack by
election security advocates, and they often actually produce
a paper ballot of the back end that is actually tallied and
maintained by your elections Official, which means at some
point of paper ballot, is produced that the voter never
sees and once again, they can't verify their vote. so well,
we've made a lot of progress in making vote by mail more
accessible. We're 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 widen,
you also heard something incredibly important from
Senator Warren and that's the need to protect in-person
voting options. I believe that that's true. there's some
people for home vote by mail is just not going to work. We have
to have in-person voting options and we have to be able
to make them as safe as possible. But what also
concerns me is that we can't say we're so sorry are. By mail
isn't accessible so people with disabilities who are considered
among the most vulnerable in terms of covid- 19, You are the
ones who will have to take to the streets to go and vote in
person because we failed to make our vote by mail
accessible for you, everyone who's eligible deserves to cast
their ballot, but everyone who cast 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 and compliant with the Americans with
Disabilities Act. Our democracy depends on Thank you so much
for Michelle and Vinita for your very compelling remarks
and for reminding us that the fight to protect every
American's right to vote has been going on since this
country began and it still continues today, especially for
communities of color for 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 answer so we have to be careful about how we
talk about it. It must be implemented in concert with
other options that ensure accessibility for all voters.
Including in person, voting options and options for voters
with disabilities. Thank you, Anita and Michelle. Thank you.
So what are some of the ways that we what are some of the
the the reforms that we can implement that will provide
accessibility for the most Americans that we can now we're
gonna hear from an expert who will speak to those important
solutions that must be enacted to ensure all Americans,
including our most vulnerable communities do not have to
choose between their safety or their. I'd like to introduce
Max Feldman Council at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Thanks so much Jenna I wanna thank the declaration for
American democracy for organizing this important
event. my fellow speakers for all that they're doing to
defend our democracy and all of you participating in this town
Hall for standing up for our rights and for our country. let
me start by adding my voice to those who have already called
for Congress to appropriate four billion dollars for our
elections this year in the face of this insidious. Virus we're
gonna have to make serious modifications to our election
systems. We can't afford to do democracy on the cheap. It's
critical that Congress step up and fully fund our elections
this year. Now, why do we need four billion dollars? Well,
you've heard a lot of the reasons already the bread and
centers put together a plan for how to protect the 2020
election from Corona virus or working arm in arm with other
advocates on this call and off to get our recommendations
implemented in States. basic principles are these we believe
that States should off. Every voter the opportunity to cast a
mail ballot at the same time state should maintain or expand
in-person voting options consistent with public health
mandates. This is important since as you've heard many
Americans can't or won't vote by mail. In addition, States
are gonna have to bolster their voter registration capacity and
especially their capacity to register voters online and we
need major investments in public education so that voters
are well aware of any changes to voting rules and procedures,
But that's the high level a little bit more detailed. We
need to make and be broken into five basic categories. First is
polling places We need to ensure that in-person voting
options for those who can't or won't vote by mail are safe and
sanitary. That means everything from relocating polling places
outside of senior care facilities to reconfiguring
polling places to allow for social distancing to sanitizing
polling places consistent with CDC guidance. It also means
enhancing election day resources to minimize lines and
intensifying poll worker. Efforts Second, we believe
States should expand early in-person voting options the
ideas to spread out voting over more days and locations
minimize crowds on Election day. third, a universal male
voting option. the debate over male voting has grown
increasingly sharp in recent weeks, but the reality is that
every state allows at least some voters to cast a mail
ballot and most States allow every voter to cast a mail
ballot. So the question for most of the country isn't
whether all voters can vote a mail ballot. It's whether
election officials are gonna be prepared for a surgeon use.
There's a number of steps they need to start working on now
get ready. It means printing enough ballots in ballot
envelopes, acquiring machines and staff to process those
ballots and request for them. relaxing deadlines for balance.
Be requested and returned and implementing reasonable
non-discriminatory processes for counting and evaluating the
validity of those ballots. Fourth category enhanced voter
registration options and capacity. Historically, most
people have registered to vote in person. We're anticipating a
potential surge in online registration as a result of the
virus and then response States need to test and bolster their
online systems or generally they need to up their capacity
to process registration applications and extend
registration deadline. If needed, fifth and final piece
of this is voter education, major modifications, the system
are needed, but it's not enough to just make the changes voters
need to be informed about them, especially given the risk of
serious disinformation campaigns around the election,
Let me just emphasize that for all of these modifications, as
you've heard you need to ensure that language access and
disability access or accounted for in closing, let me just say
we can do this. These are significant changes, but
they're achievable. We need Congress to step up. And get
States the money they need as soon as possible because we
have time to protect our elections again against the
crisis, but we have no time to waste. I encourage you all of
you on this call to make your voices heard and demand real
protections for our democracy in the coming months. Thank
you. Thank you so much Max for talking us through those
incredibly important and detailed solutions. I
appreciate you being here. And common sense policies like
accessible early voting posted page No excuse vote by mail
among others will go a long way in ensuring Americans can have
their voices heard this November, but Congress must
provide the four billion dollars that States need in
order to implement these reforms. Our next speakers come
from two incredible activist organizations with chapters all
over the United States. First, we have Deborah Kron Miller,
the executive executive director of the League of Women
Voters of Wisconsin who will give us a cautionary. Tail
based on her experience with the state's recent primary
election, then we'll hear from Karen Hobert Flynn, the
President of common cause who will discuss how citizens can
exert pressure on their local governments to enact the
reforms that max and others have discussed to secure our
elections. Deborah Dana Thank you so much and thank defend
for all you do as everyone in the nation saw a good. many
things went wrong with Wisconsin Spring election and
presidential 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 days before the election. he
called a special legislative session hoping the Legislature
would act to postpone the election and only when they
fail to do so did he finally call for the election to be
postponed only to have the courts determined he did not
have the authority to do so educating the votes. Public on
how to successfully request and submit an absentee ballot was a
tremendous challenge in such a short period of time the need
for so many voters to use the absentee ballot option brought
to light problems Associated with voting by mail. Not all
voters have access to computers and the Internet the
elimination of the special voting deputies to help those
who are shut in elderly and disabled meant they could not
easily cast their ballots and the acceptance. That people of
color, those known to have higher same day registration
and voting rates would be disenfranchised. It's important
to know that Wisconsin's extremely gerrymandered
district lines in Bolden, the electric elected majority in
the state to act in their own political interest and not in
the best interest of their constituents, health and safety
at the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. we work closely
with the National League. Ship and staff on everything from
litigation to support our messaging and we took the time
in the moment and continue to learn from this experience and
we'll work to ensure that the greatest number of voters can
successfully exercise their right to vote in all our
upcoming elections. No voter should have to choose between
their health and their right to vote in Wisconsin or in any
other state, and we wanna do our part to support those
communities who were disproportionately impacted in
this process. It was Milwaukee for us. But it could 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 insuring adequate and safe
in-person polling places, it will be important that we do
what we can to avoid this situation across the country
for the 40 plus States who still have primaries between
now and summer to make sure that we are all best positioned
for November. thank you for the opportunity share experience
stand stand and i hope you all remains safe and healthy
celebration thank you so much siyempre we really appreciate
you telling that story and we are already earned work with
you and activist around the country to make sure sampung
like that never happen again and now we're trying to here
and thank you thank you very much uhm I'm very proud to
represent our one point, Two million members and our
staff in 30 States as we work on a broader array of democracy
issues and many of the reforms that we're talking about
needing to do here tonight. I wanna thank each of you for
joining us to hear about this critical issue and to thank
Senators Clover Char widen Warren House Democratic Caucus
Chair who came Jeffrey's and Secretary of State Wiseman for
their incredible leadership to protect our elections. Clearly
the covid-, 19 pandemic presents an unprecedented
challenge to our Ensuring public health and bolstering
our economy are absolutely intertwined with protecting the
health of our democracy and the right to vote common cause,
state 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 challenges that in each state, it varies
their infrastructure. whether they have vote by mail. We help
pass the vote by mail package in Colorado overtime that have
vote centers so people could vote. In person have same day,
voter registration and many reforms, but States are in a
different place and we need to rely on experts at the state
level like our partners at the League, Brennan Center many on
this call to be working on how we can make voting as
accessible and safe as possible for people and there are many
ways for you to engage in that work. We have some States you
know that like Alaska, Indiana, New Hampshire and New York,
whether it's Democratic control or Republican control that are
rising to the challenge and expanding voting up. Through
different reforms but the challenges also some States are
politicizing this effort real challenges in States zona
Michigan, Missouri, Texas, Tuckey and others were some
Republican officials are fighting against even modest
changes to boost voting access and are openly blocking common
sense reforms that could protect the health of voters
for example, an era Governor Ducey says he's opposed to
conducting the Arizona August fourth primary by mail in Texas
the state. Fused to extend extend absentee ballot
availability due to in a court had to come in and relax
injunction sure that all eligible in Texas could
question absentee in Michigan, the Secretary of State of
Democrat Justin Benson said her state needs 40 - dollars to
hold and mostly vote by mail November, but the Republican
Legislature won't go along with it. The interesting thing is
these are the kinds of reforms Groups have been Mahal state
level by support Pulse show these are. Dependence
Republicans Democrats and we move these members people who
say that this is politicized it. they're wrong, so we are
doing all things if you're in change. In some of these state
fights, you can connect with common cause We call 19 page
outlining some of the reforms to urge Congress as you've
heard from other speakers to put money on the table, We need
$4 total to go to state so that they can they can pay for these
reforms and pay for the public. Effort required to make that
happen and you'll hear a little bit later in the call. We also
need to call Republicans in the Senate in particular and ask
them to support that four -bit dollars and also write letters
to the editor and other ways to reach your members of Congress
because remember they are also sheltering in place. So lastly,
I wanna say that I wanna thank the declaration for American
democracy for pulling us all together to talk about these
issues and for Joining us in this fight, we can win this
fight, but we need your help. Thank you so much to Deborah
and Karen for your really inspiring remarks. we
appreciate you being here and we look forward to continuing
this work together so one thing is very clear from our last few
speakers and that and that is that there is no one size fits
all approach to ensuring that every voter can access the
ballot and that is why Congress must pass common sense reforms
like those we've discussed here today, safe early voting. No
excuse, but by mail, online voter registration and other
requirements to ensure the safety of voters and poll
workers, Congress must allocate the four billion dollars in
needed by the States to get this done. So if you feel as
outraged as I did listening to the stories of voter
disenfranchisement talked about by the United Michelle and
Deborah and you're asking yourself now well, What can I
do to help this next panel has the answers so I'd like to
introduce Rio Tassel, the senior campaigns manager at
people for the American Way. Brett Ed Kins the police.
Director at Stand Up America and Christine Wood Democracy
organizer for Public Citizens Democracy is for people
campaign Rio. Why don't you kick things off? Great Thank
you so much Janet. It's great to be with you all again. My
name is Ria Tassel. I'm the senior campaign manager at
People For the American Way and I just wanna start by thanking
all of you the thousands and 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 and everything that we do all of
our decisions will impact what happens in the coming months
and years and even decades and so critically important that we
take the time to educate ourselves and others about the
vital reforms that we've been hearing about all. To safeguard
our democracy because as it's been said it is simply
unacceptable for people to have to choose between their health
and their vote. It is fundamentally un-American 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. So as we've
been hearing this evening, Congress is going to be voting
on another round of stimulus. We're asking for four billion
to be allocated for these reforms that have been
discussed by our colleagues and the declaration for American
democracy. Been mobilizing our hundred and 50 participant
organizations around this effort. We represent millions
if not tens of millions of Americans that are concerned
around about a wide range of issues and we've come together
to advocate for a broad spectrum of democracy reforms,
including campaign finance reform to just the influence of
big money in politics, protecting the right to vote
closing the revolving door between corporations and
government, But now we are fully focused on this fight.
That's. Right in front of us and the need for this funding
because nothing could be more important than making sure that
people can safely participate in the upcoming elections. So
we've heard from team members of Congress to the declaration
of for American democracy as great relationships with we
very much value all of the leadership that we've seen on
the Hill we've heard from esteemed policy experts who
have laid out some of these reforms what they can do and
why they're necessary but myself and my colleagues that
will be speaking with you in just a minute represent the
grassroots mobilization piece of this coalition because they.
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 we're hearing
about tonight and to safeguard our democracy, We need to make
sure that our voices are heard and that means we need to use
all of the tools that are available at our disposal to
put pressure on Congress, particularly the Senate right
now, and there's a number of things that can be done and
it's absolutely essential that we that we take these actions
because believe it or not members of Congress. Really
paying attention to how many calls they get, they're paying
attention to how the media covers them, particularly in
their state or in their district in every single phone
call every single letter to the editor every single tweet every
single share of this video can help bring the awareness that's
needed in order to win this funding and hopefully safeguard
our democracy. so I could not encourage everyone watching
this video enough to share it and take part in these actions
and get involved with us at declaration for American
Democracy dot org. Alright, Thanks Rio Let's turn it over
now to Brett, Thanks, Rio and and Jenna Hi everyone. I'm
Brett from Stand up America. I'm here to ask you to take
three minutes out of your day to call Congress to demand the
four billion dollars we need to expand vote by mail and early
voting, grab a pen and paper because I'm gonna give you a
phone number to stand up a mirror cuz members have already
made over A hundred and 10000 calls to Congress. just last
week, we drove tens of thousands of additional calls
with the help of daily Coast Indivisible and this amazing
coalition as someone who. Has worked on Capitol Hill. I can
tell you that these calls are noticed and that they make a
difference. so please call your senators. Here's the number 18
eight eight 4154527 ask them to provide four billion dollars in
funding to secure our elections in the next Corona virus relief
package. You can also find that number at declaration for
American Democracy dot org slash call with your help no
voter will have to choose between participating in our
democracy and their health. Christine Hi everyone. I'm
Christine Wood and I'm here to talk to you today about the
power of publishing letters to the editor. Letters to the
editor play a key role in Advocacy A letter in your local
paper has the ability to educate your community and
catch the attention of your members of Congress Now that
many publications are online, We haven't even greater
opportunity to make an impact by sharing our letters on
social media Tonight. We're asking everyone watching to
submit a letter to the editor. Editor to your local paper this
week and we've even pump. An online tool that can help you
do that, but first, let's 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 saying I'm a lifelong resident
of Syracuse, New York Next I describe the problem and the
solution specifically that the Corona virus condemn is putting
our health and our democracy at risk and that we need at least
four billion dollars to make sure that every person has
safe. To vote, then I conclude by restating my ask, which is
that Congress must pass four billion dollars in the next
stimulus bill to secure our elections. Lastly, let's spell
check it. I'd reach out to my local paper to submit my letter
and I put lightly follow up on my submission. So now my ask is
for everyone on this call to do a scheduled time this week to
write a letter to the editor. You can use our tool. it's at
declaration for American Democracy dot org slash L T E.
It makes it very easy for you to submit a letter to the. To
your local paper together, we can show the overwhelming
support for safe and secure elections. So again, visit the
Declaration for American Democracy dot org slash LT to
get started today. Thanks great. Thank you, Rio Brent and
Christine for your leadership and for your tireless activism
on this issue and most importantly, thank you to
everyone who tuned in to today's bipartisan town Hall.
Your voice is essential in this fight and to ensure that you
and your fellow Americans can safely vote in our election. I
again want to thank all of our amazing speakers, especially
Senator Klobuchar, Senator Weber Senator Warren House,
Democratic Caucus Chairman Jeffrey's and Secretary of
State Kim Winemaker and all those who took the time today
to underscore the need for swift action and solutions from
Congress to secure our right to safely and fairly vote in our
elections now following today's bipartisan kickoff event, the
declaration for American Democracy will be working with
our partners to host State focused town halls in Maine,
Arizona, North Carolina, Colorado. In Georgia, our next
virtual town Hall is coming up very soon in Maine this
Thursday, April 20, -third at Seven PM Eastern and our
featured guest will be Senator Angus King and participants
will be able to directly ask him questions about what
Congress is doing to secure our democracy. Also once this live
stream is is done, please share it with your networks and share
our action requests with them as well to participate in the
upcoming town Hall simply go to the event section of our
Facebook page, and while you're there make Like the page and
we'll let you know about other important upcoming events and
if you prefer Twitter follow us there too. our handle is at the
FA DJ Coalition or simply search for declaration for
American democracy, and of course, you can find all of
these information on our website Declaration for
American Democracy dot org, including the letter to the
editor tool that Christine mentioned that will help you to
share your message of how we will defend democracy during
Cobo to 19 far and wide and in a matter of minutes so whether
it be a ton. A phone call or a letter to the editor. Your
voice is needed now more than ever, and we hope that you
leave this broadcast ready and eager to take action. Thank you
again for listening in stay safe and good night.











