Urgent Reminder: Today at 2 p.m. video conference examines pandemic impact on U.S. election process

May 29, 2020 Special to the Brooklyn Eagle from RepresentUs

Voting booths. Photo: Mary Frost/Brooklyn Eagle

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Brooklynites have a rare opportunity today at 2 p.m. to be part of a video conference examining how the pandemic affects the coming election process. Years of research and dedicated examination of voting patterns, lobbying and the impact of limited voter turnout will be discussed in this examination of the new realities for all Americans during COVID-19.

The presentation should last about 20 minutes, followed by a Q & A, and will discuss what is being done to ensure everyone can vote safely this November and how this presents an opportunity for transformative, long-term reforms for our democracy.

It will include a visual presentation that lays out how broken election, ethics and campaign finance laws are the root cause of government dysfunction and extremism. It will outline a promising effort that has been gaining momentum across our nation to fix the problem, and it will focus on specific efforts underway to ensure vote by mail access and safe polling locations.

The current administration seems to believe that absentee voting will operate to their detriment; however, there is no evidence to that effect.

There is also concern over potential fraud, but the five states that currently have voting by mail conduct elections that are accurate, accessible, safe and secure, and according to the Heritage Foundation there have only been 13 cases of fraud in those states.

Our country is a proud democracy, and in order to preserve our democracy, we need to encourage our citizens to vote — to do otherwise would be arrogant and hypocritical.

We hope you will join us. The presenters are co-founders of RepresentUs, a nonpartisan group that is neither liberal, nor conservative, neither Republican, nor Democratic.

The group works on the basis of bringing about change from the ground up through referenda which eventually become laws. It starts at the bottom, rather than the top of the political system in order to avoid vested interests which wish to maintain the status quo.

RepresentUs has offices across our nation and have been instrumental in bringing about changes, such as Ranked Choice Voting in a number of states and cities, including NYC; tackling gerrymandering by having bipartisan commissions determine voting districts; campaign finance reform through limiting/eliminating political contributions by lobbyists; extending the amount of time in which a former government employee can become a lobbyist, etc.

Please register here for the presentation. If you are unable to join at 2 p.m., you will be able to watch the video later, when convenient.