FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rachel Barnhart: National Media Strategist
rbarnhart@represent.us / (413) 333-5656
Georgia Voting Debacle Underscores Need for Accessible Vote-By-Mail Nationwide
Election Administrators in Every State Need to Support Increased Absentee Ballot Access, Early Voting, and Well-Run, Sanitary Polling Places
(Florence, MA) June 10, 2020: A new $104 million voting system broke down in many Georgia precincts, creating hours-long lines in cities across the battleground state on Tuesday. Investigations have been called by the Georgia Secretary of State and State House Speaker into what caused the massive problems.
This latest voting debacle comes as RepresentUs and other pro-democracy groups call for state and local election officials to take assertive steps to increase voter access to mail-in ballots, and ensure well-run, sanitary polling places. As seen in other states since the COVID outbreak, volunteers who usually staff their local polling place — many of whom are older — opted to stay home rather than risk infection, exacerbating the problems in Georgia.
“How many democracy debacles do we have to witness before every elected official and election administrator does everything in their power to ensure that every American can vote safely amidst this global pandemic?” said RepresentUs CEO and Co-Founder Josh Silver. “Congress must approve more funds to the states to expand absentee voting, while also ensuring that every polling station is up and running and sanitary. The match required by Congress is problematic for states experiencing deficits - which is all of them because of the pandemic. Despite anything the president or his proxies might say, both political parties are realizing they have to embrace absentee voting and safer in-person voting in order to have any hope of well-run elections this year. This is just common sense.”
RepresentUs is tracking the states - now called the “Floundering Four” - that have not expanded absentee ballot access to all voters during the pandemic.
Josh Silver is available for interviews.
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RepresentUs is the nation’s leading right-left anti-corruption group, bringing together conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between to pass anti-corruption laws in cities and states around the country.