We all need to do more to ensure that, when it comes to our elections, everyone participates and everyone's voice is heard. Only then can we create a democracy that’s more fully of, by and for the people.
In response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) most states are letting anyone vote absentee for the spring and summer elections. Voting by mail is a safe, secure way fror people to cast their ballot because states, especially those who have a long history of voting by mail, have established strong safeguards to prevent improper voting.
U.S. PIRG is calling on every state to establish an emergency universal absentee voting system to eliminate the need to physically go to the polls at a time where doing so could put voters’ health at risk. This would allow all registered voters to be mailed an absentee ballot if physically visiting the polls were unsafe.
We applaud the efforts of Senators Udall and Tester to correct the dangerous misinterpretations of the First Amendment in the Supreme Court’s Citizens United and Buckley v. Valeo decisions.
The IRS’s incomplete actions represent both an embarrassment to the agency and a threat to democracy. Furthermore, the rest of the federal government should use its authority to shine the light on dark money—the FEC must enforce its rules, the SEC must require business corporations to disclose their political spending, and Congress must pass legislation to ensure that every dollar spent on elections is disclosed to the public.
