Sep 8, 2020 House Oversight Cmte. to investigate Louis DeJoy on claims he pressured employees to make campaign donations ─ Cmte. urged U.S. Postal Service Bd. of Governors immediately suspend DeJoy, whom “they never should have hired in the first place,” a day after The Washington Post reported allegations DeJoy & his aides urged employees at New Breed Logistics, his former North Carolina-based company, to write checks & attend fundraisers on behalf of GOP candidates. Cmte. Chair Maloney said DeJoy faces “criminal exposure” not only if the allegations are true, “but also for lying to our committee under oath.” Read More at washingtonpost.com/politics/
Aug 24 2020 Hearing: Protecting the Timely Delivery of Mail, Medicine, and Mail-in Ballots ─ Postmaster Gen. Louis DeJoy & Postal Service Board of Governors Chair Robert M. Duncan on changes at the postal service under DeJoy’s leadership. ─ see: pre-hearing Memo [PDF] docs.house.gov/meetings ─ hrng. video: youtube.com/ Spoiler Alert: next item below ↓
Sep 8, 2020 ─ Oversight Subcommittee Reiterates Document Request for Postmaster General’s Secret Communications with Trump Campaign ─ Press Release ─ DeJoy Has Until Sept. 16 to Comply with Subpoena oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases
And, Today Pesky Rep. James Clyburn’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis served up this Platter of Roast:
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Kristen Clarke Pres. & Exec. Dir., Lawyers’ Cmte for Civil Rights Under Law
Mimi Marziani Pres. Texas Civil Rights Project
Dr. Krutika Kuppalli Prof. of Medicine, Div. of Infectious Diseases, Medical U. of SC & Vice Chair, Global Health Committee, Infectious Diseases Society of America
ubcmte Press Release 9 Sep 2020 ── At Hearing, Witnesses Warn Failure To Provide Safe Voting Options Could Disenfranchise Voters ── Experts and Activists Call for Voting by Mail, Early Voting, and Shorter Lines at Polls.
Actor and activist Kerry Washington → “I call on federal and state governments to expand voting access. There are three actions to take. 1st: make mail & absentee voting available to every voter, without requiring an excuse or a witness. 2nd: expand early voting, both in person & absentee. 3rd: make voting on election day easier by extending hours polling locations are open & follow CDC guidelines for safe places.” (notice that 1993 NVRA, Pub. L. 103-31, affirmatively requires governments to expand voting access.
Congress finds that—
(1) the right of citizens of the United States to vote is a fundamental right;
(2) it is the duty of the Federal, State, and local governments to promote the exercise of that right; and
(3) discriminatory and unfair registration laws and procedures can have a direct and damaging effect on voter participation in elections for Federal office and disproportionately harm voter participation by various groups, including racial minorities.
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The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis is examining states’ efforts to ensure a free, fair, and safe general election during the coronavirus pandemic. On 14 Aug 2020, the Select Subcommittee and the Committee on House Administration sent letters to the chief election administration officials of four states—Texas, Georgia, Florida and Wisconsin—where voters faced serious impediments to casting their ballots during the 2020 primary elections. The letters sought information on the states’ efforts to prevent similar problems in the general election.1 To that end, the letters also asked about states’ plans to follow guidance from the CDC recommending states provide alternatives to in-person voting such as voting by mail, extended early voting, and safe polling places with distancing and sanitization precautions.2
The Select Subcommittee investigation revealed that these states face the risk of serious problems in the general election, including inadequate polling places and shortages of pollworkers. In some of these states, these risks are exacerbated by state policies restricting mail-in voting and early voting. States should take immediate action to fix these problems—including by supporting local election officials and implementing best practices from other states—in order to ensure all voters can cast their ballots without delays or risks to their health.
1 Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, Press Release: Clyburn, Lofgren Launch Investigation Into States’ Preparations To Hold Free, Fair, And Safe Elections (Aug. 14, 2020) coronavirus.house.gov/news/press-releases/clyburn-lofgren-launch ...
2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Considerations for Election Polling Locations and Voters(June 22, 2020) cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/election-polling-locations.html
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── continue reading this long well-footnoted & hotlinked memo here
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Suppressing Poll Worker participation by failing to mitigate national Covid-19 risks forces municipal and county Board(s) of Elections to drastically reduce the number of both early voting and election day polling places as well as reducing work capabilities of mail-in voting processing centers, as in the cases of Waukesha and Milwaukee to cite but two examples of the 2020 nationwide phenomenon.
case study [one state of 50 states, 5 territories,1 District and the U.S. Citizens Abroad polity wherein the situations are similar if not identical] → Wisconsin’s April 7th Primary 2020 Election saw Wisconsin polling places closing because there were not enough people to work the polls. Waukesha, a bastion of Republican voters in Waukesha County of southeastern Congressional WI-01, lost so many poll workers it had election-day voting at one location instead of 13. ─ Milwaukee Democratic stronghold needed about 1,400 poll workers to run its election but had fewer than 400, according to Neil Albrecht, director of the Milwaukee Election Commission. Another 300 workers were needed for the Milwaukee central location where absentee ballots are processed, but fewer than 50 had been hired by Saturday, 3 days before the election.
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Now, Wisconsin Elections Commission (EAC) was active in National Poll Worker Recruitment Day on Sept. 1st begging people to sign up to become election workers for the November election. “Wisconsin needs thousands of its citizens to step up and become poll workers for November,” said Meagan Wolfe, Wisconsin’s chief election official. “We know there are Wisconsinites looking for ways to serve their communities through this difficult time. If you are a state, county or municipal employee, a student or someone who is looking for temporary work, municipal clerks need you to make a difference.” To sign up contact a municipal clerk’s office or visit the MyVote Wisconsin website: https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/PollWorker. On August 11 Partisan Primary day, clerks in 40 counties and 141 municipalities were more than 700 workers short. National Guard was called up and no guarantee is made they will be available in November elections. “Poll workers are the unsung heroes of the democratic process, and right now we’re facing a critical shortage of these dedicated volunteers,” said EAC Chairman Ben Hovland.
![Jim Clyburn [SC-06] House Majority Whip and Chair of Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis ─ in hearing 9 Sep 2020](https://images.dailykos.com/images/854177/story_image/JimClyburnSC-06SelectSubcommitteeontheCoronavirusCrisis.jpg?1599691803 "Jim Clyburn [SC-06] House Majority Whip and Chair of Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis ─ in hearing 9 Sep 2020")
