Many of us can ever remember. We know how big the stakes are. I, personally, have been through this myself when my husband got really sick and was in the hospital and was able to see firsthand how horrific this is where you cant stand by your loved ones side and hold her hand and you cant give hogs to the Health Care Workers and they are the ones holding up the phone to their ears. I know we are going to find a way out of this, but to me, the only way we find a way out of this is to make sure we have a functioning democracy. That is why i am so devoted to this issue and all of the things we were talking about before the pandemic from making progress in a big way on climate change. We cannot wait. Doing something about gun safety, racial disparity, economic inequality. We have to move now and the way we do it is with our democracy. That is why we are working so hard to pass our bill that ron and i have been leading, each of us in different ways, for years. That is to make it easier for people to vote. Right now, we have a big opportunity coming up with the covid 4 proposal. Morewould allow us to put funding in place for our states as well as get some of these reforms in place. Let me walk through what this is like right now. I dont think i have to give you steps. You saw it all in wisconsin. You saw what happened when a Republican Legislature decided not to let the democratic governor to delay the election like so many other governors have done for peoples own health. What we saw instead was people standing in garbage bags with masks coming up shift at the hospital and having to risk their lives, their lives, just to be able to exercise their right to vote. While meanwhile, in the luxury of his home on 1600 pennsylvania avenue, donald trump orders a mailin ballot with his wife. That is what they did. They were able to get their ballot from palm beach on vote that way as he has done many times in the past. That is the case that we have. I think one of the strongest arguments we have is that we work to get this funding and reforms in place in the next package, is not just that inequity, but the fact that the voters in wisconsin, they acted. They knew those republicans were playing with their lives and were literally trying to take the election away from them and try to literally play politics. Meanwhile, we have other republicans like the secretary of state of washington, that you are going to hear from, who have been working toward constructive change. Or some other governors around the country who believe that people should have the right to vote. That is the political strategy, very clear. That is that we think we can get bipartisan support for the funding. Are going towe fight like hell to get those reforms. Those are things like this. 20 days early keeping the polling places open. We know for certain some states, 45 of the people are voting early, by ballot. We know by the mail. We know we are going to have to keep these polling places open as well. We know they will be people voting on election day so we want to train a new generation of poll workers. That funding includes that as well as malaise requirements to break down some of these heinous things that are going on. For instance, six states in our country right now require either to witnesses for a notary two witnesses for a notary to get a mailin ballot. There is actually a story of someone who has a notary through a window in an assisted living or they were trying to get an early ballot for primary. Our bill would knock down those barriers and make it very straightforward that people should be able to vote without those barriers in place. That is what we are doing. Im very excited to be working with my friend ron. I appreciate the work elizabeth has been doing, who i know you are going to hear from, as well as fatim, whose district has been so hardhit by coronavirus, and all the groups on the call. This should be something we can all unite on. I know Mitch Mcconnell has stood in the way of election reform many times in the past. I have tried to get the backup paper ballots, but i think you are starting to see republicans that are interested in working with us, at least on the money piece of this, and that is going to be our goal with the covid 4 package. Overall, i just want to thank you because we know that Voter Suppression has been going on for a long time. I dont think we ever thought it would come to be what we saw in wisconsin. We just have to make the case for people. Why would you disallow a veteran, a senior who is a veteran from voting because he cant take the risk to go to the poll . Why would you make hospital workers, who have no ability to get a notary or get two witnesses because every day they go to risk their lives, why would you make them do that . We are going to have such a strong case to make for america. , the workt wait to we are going to be doing in the next month to push this through. The other thing i would mention is the effect this had on our minority community. You saw the people standing in line in milwaukee, how they reduced at the poll locations from over 100 to five. In green bay, from 35 to two. We have a big racial argument to strong this case, a freedom and Constitutional Rights argument to make. We have a democracy argument to make. We are ready to go and i know you are going to hear that from ron as well. Thank you so much, senator klobuchar. For your remarks you touched on a lot of really important points. We also have a question for you that was sent in by the president of democracy 21. He asks, you are known for striding to work in a bipartisan fashion and being able to maintain bipartisan cosponsors for the bills you introduce. Do you think we can get any Senate Republican support are more funding for the states to run their elections since there is strong support from republican as well as demo attic state officials on the need for these funds . I know you touched on this a little bit, but maybe you could elaborate. I look forward to hearing from the republican secretary of state from Washington State. The iowa secretary of state so they need the funds yesterday. You have governors in states like maryland and New Hampshire and ohio that are republicans, that are pushing for this money. That being said, i dont want to sound naive here because we know in congress there are problems. The rules us chair committee, he has publicly come out against the reform, but has said they are open to getting my money. It is our job to work with our leadership to push for the reforms as well as for the funding. One thing i did forget to mention, ron and i were really excited that Michelle Obama endorsed our bill. We thought that was pretty good. She hasnt done a lot of political things since they left the white house. We have been able to work with so many other groups including the ones on this call. Again, i dont want to be a pollyanna. I am the one that ran into a buzz saw with Mitch Mcconnell many times over backup paper ballots and the like. It is one of the reasons i gave they gaveickname me that nickname about russia. It is what it is. I still think the overwhelming support, the full numbers are out of the park on this with all the people that want to see change. And the all of us groups on this call to make the case. We have a clear target with a lot of people at our side. Thank you you so much, senator klobuchar for a love the incredible work you are doing to secure our vote and fighting to make sure every american will have access to the polls. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you. Goodbye. Senator klobuchar also serves on the Judiciary Committee and is Ranking Member of the rules committee. For those of you who are just joining in, this is the protect kickoff. Town hall we are speaking with government leaders about what action must be taken in order for us to be able to safely vote in our elections this year. I would like to introduce our next speaker, another National Leader in the fight for expanding Voting Rights, u. S. Senator ron wyden from oregon. Senator . To theden a big thanks declaration for american democracy. I would offer up that this is not a complicated matter. The bill that i have written with senator klobuchar protects your right to vote safely, no matter where in america you live. The bottom line is, it is time to covid proof elections in america. 2002, when i proposed the first legislation to allow itricans to vote by mail, was considered kind of an academic exercise. Papersf professors wrote speculating about voter turnout were which Political Party would benefit. It was kind of interesting to outthe tweed jacket set go and debate the whole issue. It is academic no longer. Is now the linchpin to safe voting. That is especially true for vulnerable populations like older people, older women, for example, many of whom have actually served in the military and have already risked their lives for this country once. They shouldnt be asked to risk their lives again. Now, senator klobuchar and i did not reinvent the wheel in writing this bill. America is already moving in our direction. Nebraska,ght red nebraska, announced it has seen unprecedented requests for absentee ballots. Lighter red ohio is moving to a male in primary. Mailin primary. Maryland, with a republican governor, is holding a mainly vote by mail primary. All of these are states governed by republicans. It is hard to see the donald trump theory that voting by mail is some kind of giant liberal conspiracy. Is last point i would make that our bill does not federalize the fall elections, nor does it perpetrate any other kind of nonsense that some constitutionally illiterate politicians are peddling. If anybody following us tonight once the details and wants to i have simple it is, actually demonstrated voting by mail in my dining room in a nned tonight have pi at the top of my feed. Big, big thanks for all you are doing. I understand we may have a question. Let me also think hakim and elizabeth because we are all jana thank you, so much. We do have a question for you from mike, a senior fellow at the union of concerned scientists. Theou know, oregon was first state to adopt or universal vote by mail and you made it happen. How has voter turnout been affected by this and what lessons could other states learn from oregon system . Sen. Wyden we have a unique offering for the country. Americas first the by mail senator in 1996 republicans supported the process. At that time democrats were opposed. After i became the first new senator in 30 years everything was reversed. Democrats started to love it and theblicans said it would be end of western civilization. Smith, a, gordon republican leader in our legislature got elected to the u. S. Senate later in that year. Oregon voters said enough with all this silliness, we like to voting by mail whether we are conservatives or liberals and we put it on the ballot and it passed overwhelmingly. Vote by mail is something that oregonians weighed in on. Is thathave seen studies show it is cheaper, increases turnout, and republicans including our late and wellrespected republican secretary of state, Dennis Richardson said in a letter to that fraud was basically nonexistent. Anybody, if you are tired of standing in line for hours just to vote worried about whether an electronic machine is secure, or you cannot just get time off from work to go to the polls, or you just want to be safe, tonight our message is the better way is to vote by mail. Jana thank you so much, senator wyden for joining us. It is heartening to hear you talk about not just the democratic states that her work and to institute vote by mail but also the republican states that are doing so as well. Thank you for joining us and take care. Senator wyden is also the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance committee and also serves on the budget, energy, and Natural Resources committee. It is important to mention that one state that has been doing vote by mail the longest is the very red state of utah. Introducehrilled to our next speaker, u. S. Senator Elizabeth Warren from massachusetts. Senator warren . Senator, i think you might be on mute. Sen. Warren now i am not. Thank you again. With good to be here declaration for american democracy. I appreciate everyone getting together. Liketual town hall is not being in person, but at least we are talking about the important issues. Is the beating heart of our democracy. It should not be partisan. It now has become partisan. We all heard donald trump say that we cant let everyone vote, because if we did republicans would never win another election. We still goal our eyes about donald trump, but we have to pause for a minute and think about the fact that one of our two Major Political parties has plan y said their they claim how dangerous it has become devote and how far they will go to keep people from voting. I see this as a moment where the accountability of our Election Officials cannot be higher. People get thet chance to vote. Making sure that come in november of 2020 everyone will have an opportunity to vote, that should be a high priority. I put out a plan a couple of weeks ago, and basically it starts with money. It is going to take money to make sure we can do vote by mail. This seems to be the number that has been settled on so everyone in the United States can receive a postage prepaid envelope to be able to vote and receive their ballot. In addition, we need to make sure people can register online, that we have an extended Registration Period and that we have safe in person voting. Resources so that people will be able to vote. Two, we have to protect the post office and the postal system. Voting by mail is just one more reminder of why we need a postal system. We need to put money into the postal system to make sure it is fair for us it is there for us every day in terms of delivering letters and packages. People are using it during this crisis but it is also a critical part of our democracy. Vote by mail requires a strong postal system. Third, we need to protect havers making sure they the protective gear they need and appropriate sanitation supplies. That they have the training and are fully protected. Four, as much as we talk about voting by mail and i am a huge fan of voting by mail, i believe nationally we have to protect converse and voting. Voting by mail works for a lot of people but not everyone. Are particular challenges with voting by mail. People who are living on tribal , sometimes in communities of color it is important to be able to rely on voting in person i want to make sure there are resource to support same day in person voting and early voting. We know basically what we need. Amy said, this is not rocket science. We need to get this into the next corona package that comes down. We need to make sure that we are putting this big negotiation together and our number one priority is protect the rights of people to vote so nobody has to choose between their health and their ability to rex exercise their rights as an american citizen. It is more important now than ever before to protect our democracy. In placederal laws that provide the resources and also require access to the ballot for every american. Thats what this is about. Jana thank you so much for your powerfulthey are very and speak to a lot of the challenges that we are facing in making sure we have a safe and secure election. You from question for tiffany. She wrote, we cannot let what happened with elections in wisconsin happened nationwide in november. What is the single most important thing people at home can do to make sure this upcoming stimulus package has what we need to protect our elections. Question and i love that you care enough to assert that we are right but get out and do something about it. The first thing is, show up. Nowow that means virtually because we are all at home here. Show up and go to the town hall. Go to any town hall you can. Lots of members of congress right now in the senate and the house are Holding Virtual town halls, show up and ask a and ask about voting question about the post office. ,sk a question about funding whenever they are talking about coronavirus ask about how it relates to our ability to vote without putting lives at risk. It is the single most important thing you can do. If youra center senator or representative is not holding a town hall email them or get in touch with them virtually as often as you can. Put it on your to do list. When i say call i mean this in every sense of the word. Whether it is text or facebook or however you do it. Get in touch with lots of people, now is our chance. Sales and wein the ine our voices heard, people the senate and the house will be voting very soon on the next corona package. Whoever your senators are, whether you are red or blue let us know how important this is. You cant say it often enough, boat, boat, you have to show up and devote. Get other people in game, volunteer and get others to volunteer. This is the moment. We always talk about most important election in your lifetime until you see the next one. This one really is and our functiono continue to to be the way the people who , that isr wellknown really on the line. Now that we have a blue party that plans to use this asset ategy they are willing to talk openly about it. To is the moment we have got get the rules in place to protect this vote, next november. We dont want to be in a position of talking about the long lines or people that decided not to go because they were afraid of being sick, we dont want to be in that. Osition we want to get the changes that we need. Thank you all, thank you for having me tonight. We have a long road ahead of us. Know is theat we right road for us to travel. Is a road about saving our country, this is a road about saving our democracy and i am proud to be in the fight alongside all of you, thank you for having me. So much senator warren and for painting a picture of the seriousness of the moment we are in and why it is important that everyone does whatever they can to make their voices heard. We appreciate you being here, take care. Sen. Warren thank you. Senator warren serves on the Banking Committee and is the Ranking Member of the Financia