Voters should not have to choose between their health and their vote, and with a little more than 100 days before the election, Verified Voting continues to urge Congress to pass $3.6 billion in funding included in the HEROES Act for election officials to conduct safe and secure elections in November.
As yesterday’s Senate Rules Committee hearing on “2020 General Election Preparations” clearly demonstrated, officials desperately need resources to ensure the election proceeds safely and securely and this is true across the political spectrum.
Here are some snippets from the hearing [full video available here]:
“Already limited resources must be put to use, not just to ensure the safety and security of our democracy, but to ensure the health and safety of individual voters and election workers are not at risk,” said Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee.
Senator Angus King (I-ME) highlighted the security risks of internet voting and evidence of foreign interference in the 2016 elections. He said, “I can assure you the Russians are going to try and are trying to interfere in the election of 2020… And the problem with this challenge that we face is… they don’t have to change votes. All they have to do is sow doubt. Doubt is the dagger in the heart of democracy.”
Senator Blunt agreed that having confidence in the election results is critically important. He said it is “the fabric of democracy and we have to be thinking about that all the time.”
Verified Voting offers recommendations that can be implemented to address the challenges of running a secure, verifiable election in the midst of a pandemic, but all of our recommendations require immediate resources and planning. Congress needs to act now – the clock is ticking for election officials to have enough time to expand mail voting and ensure safe in-person voting for all voters.
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