WASHINGTON, D.C. -- How can you make an election pandemic-proof?
With November fastly-approaching and the coronavirus outlook unknown, North Carolina leaders expect many more people than usual to take advantage of mail-in voting, which provides a chance for them to make their voices heard while avoiding exposure.
At the national level, mail-in voting is fast becoming a partisan football. President Donald Trump continues to rail against efforts to expand mail-in voting, making unfounded claims about widespread fraud.
“If people mail in ballots, it's a lot of illegality. They send in ballots, they harvest ballots,” he told reporters recently. “They do lots of bad things. Ideally, people go out and they vote.”
Congress has already approved hundreds of millions of dollars to help states boost their voting operations amid the coronavirus - an amount some voting rights advocates say is simply not enough.
The latest coronavirus relief plan crafted by Democrats in the U.S. House included language ensuring no-excuse mail-in voting be available nationally. It also calls for prohibiting states from requiring witness signatures on absentee ballots, according to a Demcoratic summary of the bill.
“Nobody is looking to give either party an advantage. But the fact is, we are very uncertain right now whether people are going to be able to vote in person in the regular way in November,” said Rep. David Price, D-4th District.
However, that $3 trillion aid package has been declared dead on arrival in the Senate, where Republicans have likened it to a Democratic wish-list.
Meanwhile, at the state level, there are signs of potential action.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced legislation to make mail-in voting easier by allowing people to request absentee ballots via email and fax. It also reduces the number of witness signatures required on absentee ballots.
The bill comes as the state faces a new federal lawsuit, alleging leaders have not done enough to ensure voters can participate in the election safely.
Election Day is now just more than five months away.
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May 27, 2020 at 05:53PM
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Lawmakers Weigh How to Make the Election Pandemic-Proof - Spectrum News
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