Vote at Home | Weekly Roundup April 6, 2020

Amidst an unprecedented worldwide pandemic, lawmakers have been under pressure to figure out how to ensure that the 2020 elections continue. No voter should have to choose between their health and their civic duty.

We've rounded up the top vote at home headlines of the week.

• New Hampshire Gov. Sununu (R) will allow absentee voting in November. Gov. Sununu announced the state will allow no-excuse vote by mail in November if COVID is still a force (NH usually requires an excuse to vote absentee). It’s not clear how Sununu’s declaration will be carried out.

• “Trailing nine:” According to RepresentUs, 9 states (CT, KY, LA, MS, MO, NH, SC, TN and TX) have yet to make accommodations to their excuse-required systems with upcoming primary races. This includes states with presidential primaries and state/local primaries. 

• “I don’t want a Wisconsin:” New Jersey is the 16th state to delay their presidential primary elections due to COVID-19. They moved their election to July 7, the latest date of any state. New Jersey already has no-excuse permanent absentee voting in place. Georgia further delayed their presidential primary (originally March 24) from May 19 to June 9.

• NY moves to no-excuse VAH: Gov. Cuomo announced he would issue an executive order suspending existing criteria for absentee voting and allow all voters to cast their ballot by mail in the June 23 presidential primary election. NY joins IN and WV in moving from excuse-required to no-excuse voting for their presidential primary. 

• More federal funding is TBD. Speaker Pelosi said she would push to include $2 billion for voting assistance in the next aid package. In addition to voting at home, there is Democratic interest in expanding early, in-person voting and online voter registration. Republican activists say Congress needs to act now. 

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