The Los Angeles Post

House Dems push for $4B in state election funds

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The Democratic chairs of key House committees on Friday called on Congress to send $4 billion to states to allow for mail-in voting and other efforts to conduct elections during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the right to vote “may be in jeopardy” without action.

House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), House Administration subcommittee on Elections Chairwoman Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), and Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) criticized Congress for not doing enough to prevent barriers to vote this year.

“Without decisive action by Congress, the coronavirus crisis may exacerbate dangerous impediments for voters, including closed or restricted access to polling places and public health restrictions that deter voter participation — all of which could result in depressed voter turnout that undermines the will of the American people and degrades confidence in our elections,” the House members said in a joint statement.

Limited funding on the way: The coronavirus stimulus package signed into law by President Trump last month included $400 million to assist states conduct elections during the COVID-19 crisis.

The amount was far lower than the $4 billion proposed in the House version of that bill rolled out by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and supported by Lofgren. The House version would also have imposed requirements on states on how to use the funds, including expanding early in-person voting and ensuring every voter had the ability to vote by mail.

The version ultimately signed into law was the Senate version, which did not include any requirements on how the funds could be used, and required states to match the funding by 20 percent. The House Democratic leaders on Friday strongly criticized the funding match requirement.

“These funds must be free from burdensome matching requirements that prevent states from quickly deploying resources where they are urgently needed,” the House Democrats said. “Vote-by-mail and early voting options are commonsense and tested solutions that will both protect public health and the fundamental American right to vote.”