ONLINE EVENT ADVISORY: Elections in the Coronavirus Pandemic:

Author

Centre for American Progress (CAP)

Release Date

Monday, April 6, 2020

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Washington, D.C. — The coronavirus pandemic is testing America’s electoral system in unprecedented ways, and immediate action is required to ensure that jurisdictions can conduct elections in a safe, secure, and effective manner. State election administrators are asking lawmakers to help protect the democratic process and are updating their election procedures to comply with public health guidelines and ensure that every American can cast a ballot that counts.

While the federal government has provided some funding to states, more is needed: States need billions—not millions—of dollars in federal funding in order to ready their elections. In addition to taking sanitary precautions at polling places, states must significantly expand opportunities to vote by mail, implement early voting, adopt online and same-day voter registration, and conduct extensive public outreach, among other important measures. While some states already adhere to several of these best practices, many states do not and are far less prepared.

Please join the Center for American Progress on Wednesday, April 8, for an online event with California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson as they discuss state election preparedness during the COVID-19 pandemic and the federal resources states need to safeguard free and fair elections.

If you have questions for our panel before the start of the event, please send them to CAPeventquestions@americanprogress.org.

WHO

Distinguished panelists:
Jocelyn Benson, Michigan Secretary of State
Jena Griswold, Colorado Secretary of State
Alex Padilla, California Secretary of State
Sam Berger, Vice President, Democracy and Government Reform, Center for American Progress

Moderator:
Daniella Gibbs Léger, Executive Vice President, Communications and Strategy, Center for American Progress

WHEN

Wednesday, April 8, 2020
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET

WHERE

You must RSVP to watch the livestream event by clicking this link. An email will then be sent with instructions on how to watch.

To find the latest CAP resources on the coronavirus, visit our coronavirus resource page.

For more information, please contact Sam Hananel at shananel@americanprogress.org


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