I received an email today from Senator Chris Coons' (D. DE) office regarding the Fair, Accurate, Secure and Timely (FAST) Voting Act of 2012:
Read more: http://host.madison.com/...
Newspapers and other leaders are beginning to join our call for real election reform.
This week the Washington Post joined the New York Times in advocating for election reform by citing Chris’ Fair, Accurate, Secure & Timely Voting Act as a way forward:
“Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), Mr. Warner and Mr. Connolly would dangle the possibility of grants to states that put together election reform programs that embrace any or all of nine sensible improvements, including more flexible registration rules, early voting for at least nine of the 10 days before Election Day, more training for poll workers and better accessibility for voters with disabilities. ... A strong, careful, federal push could help.”
Armed with your stories and support, Chris also spoke on the floor of the Senate to urge his colleagues to support for the FAST Voting Act. You can watch and share the clip here:
We all know our work to fix our elections will not happen overnight, but the only way for it to happen at all is if we keep the pressure on and make sure what happened a month ago is not get forgotten.
You’ve signed on to support of our effort -- now forward this on to your friends to keep our momentum going:
http://www.fixourelectionsnow.org/...
Together, we can make it easier and more secure for every citizen to exercise his or her fundamental right to vote.
Thank you,
Amanda Moninghoff
ChrisCoons.com
Senator Mark Warner (D. VA) and Congressman Gerald Connolly (D. VA-11) helped author the FAST Voting Act with Coons. They are also co-sponsors along with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D. RI) and Congressman Jim Langevin (D. RI-2):
http://host.madison.com/...
The FAST Voting Act recognizes that modernizing the nation’s voting system will require a collaboration by federal, state and local stakeholders, and that we will need to provide incentives to accelerate change. Our legislation would authorize a competitive grant program, similar to the Education Department’s Race to the Top, to reward states that aggressively implement innovative election reforms, and it would measure their progress to ensure the money is well spent. States adopting the most comprehensive and promising reforms would receive a greater portion of the funding.
Among the potential reforms put forth in our bill are: flexible voter registration, including same-day registration; early voting on a minimum of nine of the 10 calendar days preceding an election; no-excuse-needed absentee voting; assistance to voters who do not speak English; assistance to voters with disabilities, including visual impairment; effective access to absentee voting for members of the armed services; better training of election officials; auditing and reducing waiting times at polling stations; and creating contingency plans for voting in the event of a disaster. - The Cap Times, 12/11/12
We need to ensure that our vote is safe and that voting and registering to vote is simple, available and not tampered with. Take a moment and sign Senator Coons' petition:
http://www.FixOurElectionsNow.org/
And as a way of saying thanks for Coons taking the lead on protecting our right to vote, how about helping him get ready for his re-election campaign:
https://secure.actblue.com/...