• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. vote by mail>

New bipartisan group pushes for safe and secure voting of all kinds

Sara Swann
https://twitter.com/saramswann?lang=en
May 26, 2020
Granholm and Ridge

Two prominent former governors, Democrat Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Republican Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania, are co-chairing the new VoteSafe.

Getty Images

With millions of voters scared of coronavirus exposure, a surge of absentee ballots is coming in November even if the rules are not relaxed and more federal help is not delivered — a reality obscured by the intensifying partisan rhetoric over vote-by-mail's virtues and flaws.

And so a new group, VoteSafe, has been launched in hopes of lowering the volume and magnifying the needs of election administrators of both parties preparing for the first Election Day in a century during a nationwide public health emergency.

The organization, unveiled last week, has an A-list bipartisan pedigree and the backing of many prominent good-government groups — an alliance made possible because the group is pushing remote voting and use of polling places with equal force.


"VoteSafe is committed to ensuring voters have options: expanded access to absentee ballots as well as safe, sanitary, and accessible in-person voting locations," the website says up front. "Our goal is to ensure the safety of all voters as they exercise their constitutional right. Doing so is not a partisan issue; it is an American issue. We are committed to ensuring that the right to vote safely transcends politics and partisanship."

The principles are at the core of VoteSafe's mission: States should ensure voters have access to both voting options, and Congress should provide states with the resources they need to do so.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

In March, Congress allocated $400 million for states to spend on safeguarding elections during the pandemic, but good-government groups and election administrators have said this is not nearly enough to cover the costs.

The Democratic House voted two weeks ago to give another $3.6 billion to states, but the money is in a $3 trillion pandemic economic recovery package that's dead on arrival in the Senate, and it's not clear when Republican leaders there will come up with a counteroffer and whether it will include any election funding.

Six top state election officials have endorsed VoteSafe's principles, including Republican Secretaries of State Brad Raffensburger of Georgia and Kim Wyman of Washington. The others are Democratic Secretaries of State Jocelyn Benson of Michigan, Jena Griswold of Colorado, Maggie Toulouse Oliver of New Mexico and Denise Merrill of Connecticut.

VoteSafe aims to encourage more election officials to sign on to these principles ahead of an election now just 23 weeks away. Its website includes an open letter to election administrators that urges them to join the campaign.

"This is not a partisan issue and not a time to play politics," the letter reads. "We can unite over protecting the sacred American right to vote."

Two prominent former governors, Republican Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Democrat Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, are serving as co-chairs of VoteSafe. Eleven good-government groups have also partnered with the campaign, including the League of Women Voters, the National Vote at Home Institute, RepresentUs and the R Street Institute.

"Let's remember that voting isn't a privilege, it's a responsibility of citizenship," Ridge said. "Responsibility also rests with government to make certain that every American has the right to vote safely during this public health crisis."

From Your Site Articles
  • Missouri develops complex rules for easing absentee voting - The ... ›
  • Jimmy Carter, in reversal, embraces vote by mail - The Fulcrum ›
  • Mail-in voting benefits neither party, is nearly fraud-free - The Fulcrum ›
  • Postal Service warns tossup states of delivery challenges - The Fulcrum ›
  • Millions in donations to pay for elections prompts lawsuits - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Virus-Driven Vote-by-Mail Efforts Run Up Against Cash Shortfalls ... ›
  • The coronavirus supercharges vote-by-mail efforts, but barriers remain ›
  • Trump Is Pushing a False Argument on Vote-by-Mail Fraud. Here ... ›
vote by mail

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Becoming the (healthy) fungus among us

Debilyn Molineaux
21h

Podcast: God squad: Let friendship redeem the republic

Our Staff
21h

Facebookopoly

Seth David Radwell
22h

Does partisanship impact happiness?

Lynn Schmidt
07 February

Return copyright to its roots: Compensate human creators

Samantha Close
07 February

It’s the institutional design, stupid! With a parliamentary system, America could avoid gridlock and instability

Milind Thakar
06 February
Videos

Video: America's civic education gap: What can business do?

Our Staff

Video: What does it mean to be Black?

Our Staff

Video: The dignity index

Our Staff

Video: The Supreme Court and originalism

Our Staff

Video: How the baby boom changed American politics

Our Staff

Video: What the speakership election tells us about the 118th Congress webinar

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: God squad: Let friendship redeem the republic

Our Staff
21h

Podcast: Why Democrats fail with rural voters

Our Staff
06 February

Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Our Staff
03 February

Podcast: 2024 Senate: Democrats have a lot of defending to do

Our Staff
02 February
Recommended
Becoming the (healthy) fungus among us

Becoming the (healthy) fungus among us

Big Picture
Podcast: God squad: Let friendship redeem the republic

Podcast: God squad: Let friendship redeem the republic

Podcasts
Facebookopoly

Facebookopoly

Big Picture
Does partisanship impact happiness?

Does partisanship impact happiness?

Big Picture
Return copyright to its roots: Compensate human creators

Return copyright to its roots: Compensate human creators

Business & Democracy
Video: America's civic education gap: What can business do?

Video: America's civic education gap: What can business do?