Congressional Democrats are signaling there will be a fight over funding for vote-by-mail as the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact day-to-day life and puts every state’s ability to conduct free and fair elections at risk.
Congress’ three relief bills for the coronavirus outbreak have only included limited funding for states to expand absentee voting, despite growing calls from election officials, state leaders and voting rights activists. Democratic leadership in Congress has highlighted the need, but faced opposition across the aisle. The last package included $400 million in election assistance for states to help prepare for the 2020 election cycle, including cleaning polling locations, but Democrats said that wasn’t nearly enough. Now, Democratic leaders in both chambers want another chance to push through funding for mail-in voting.
“How are we going to vote in primaries and general elections? We’re probably going to need vote-by-mail and electronic voting and ways to get there,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said last week on MSNBC. | 
