“This becomes a health issue,” Speaker Pelosi said of her sneak attempt to include $3.6B for mail-in voting in the next coronavirus relief bill.
“As we saw in Wisconsin, standing in those lines for that amount of time, going to places that are enclosed — is dangerous to your health.”
“We’re now calling it ‘Voting at Home’ because that’s really what it’s all about — enabling people to vote at home,” Pelosi told MSNBC last night.
“So this is a health issue in addition to a convenience issue for the American people in terms of shelter-in-place and ordering whatever they order through the mail as a convenience to them,” Pelosi said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday night touted a $3.6 billion vote-by-mail proposal – which she rechristened “Voting at Home” – adding that the bill also would help bolster the U.S. Postal Service.
Pelosi talked about the legislation during an appearance on MSNBC just hours after President Trump warned the states of Michigan and Nevada against implementing absentee-ballot and vote-by-mail plans, arguing the proposals were illegal and could potentially facilitate voter fraud.
In both cases, the president threatened to withhold federal dollars from the states if they went ahead with their plans.
The legality of using mail ballots is already the basis of a lawsuit in Texas, in which a federal judge sided with Democrats in allowing the forms to be sent out to voters. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately announced his office was appealing the ruling to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Meantime, Trump has repeatedly criticized the Postal Service, calling it a “joke” and claiming it undercharges online retail giants such as Amazon. The president has said he will not support any bailout legislation for the Postal Service if the organization does not raise its service rates to generate more revenue.
But in an interview on MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” Pelosi stressed that the Democrats’ proposal was aimed at making voting and shopping more convenient and safe for Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic – allowing them to perform both tasks at home without exposing themselves to risk of contracting the virus.
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“This becomes a health issue,” Speaker Pelosi says of including $3.6B for mail-in voting in the next coronavirus relief bill. “As we saw in Wisconsin, standing in those lines for that amount of time, going to places that are enclosed — is dangerous to your health.”
