Last year Pennsylvania introduced “no excuse” voting by mail. So I guess we are fairly lucky in this state. Many states do not allow mail-in voting.

There is a bill in the Senate that would require states to offer this option in 2020 and have contingency plans for future problems with voting. The bill also provides the states with federal funds to help implement this act. I believe that is an important thing this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency.

A non-partisan summary of the bill and the option to download a copy of the legislation is provided by the US Vote Foundation.

Here is the coverage from The Hill and the Daily Kos.

And of course we should hear from the bill’s sponsors, Ron Wyden and Amy Klobuchar. Also they wrote a joint op-ed on this: Here’s how to guarantee coronavirus won’t disrupt our elections.

I’d also like to note the 2 earlier ‘vote by mail’ bills did not make it very far in the Senate. Here is information on the 2019 version and an earlier 2020 version.

I like to see the summaries on www.congress.gov since these stick to the facts and let me know where the bill is in the process of moving through Congress. Unfortunately, I did not find anything on this bill which may just mean it is too early in the process to generate much information.

If you are interested in the idea of voting by mail I think the summary of this by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University is worth reading.

It is an important issue in view of the problems facing our nation today. Let your Senators know what you think about this since they may vote soon on the bill. Not a bad idea to also let your Representative know since the vote will next go to the House.