We need to mobilize our movement in an unprecedented way to produce the largest voter turnout this country has ever seen. The future of our democracy depends on it. And if we are successful in defeating Trump, we must also stay vigilant and do everything possible to prevent Trump from staying in power if he loses.
Secondly, we need Congressional hearings with local officials to learn how they plan to handle the Election Day process and the days that follow.
Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, and I have written a letter to Mitch McConnell urging bi-partisan Senate committee hearings on this issue. At this historic moment we believe that Democrats and Republicans in the Senate must come together to guarantee the integrity of our election process.
Every agency at every level of government must do all it can to ensure that we have a free and fair election where every eligible voter can vote without intimidation, and where no one has to put his or her health or life in danger to cast a ballot. That is why Congress must hear directly from election officials to know what measures are being taken to make voting available to all and to ensure a smooth election process.
Next, with the pandemic and a massive increase in mail-in voting, state legislatures must take immediate action to allow for votes to be counted before Election Day, as they come in.
The longer it takes to count ballots after Election Day, the more we will be seeing chaos, conspiracy theories and social unrest. Faith in the election system will be undermined if election results are not determined as soon as possible.
Further, what studies show is that most Democrats will be voting by mail while most Republicans will be voting in person on Election Day. This could create a scenario on election night where Trump and down-ballot Republican candidates are shown in the lead before all the mail-in votes are counted and final results become available. Trump, of course, will call the newly counted mail-in ballots "voter fraud" and will try to use it as another reason to discredit the results. Counting mail-in votes as they come in leading up to Election Day will help ensure a reliable and dependable election process while guaranteeing that accurate results are reported in a timely fashion.
The news media needs to prepare the American people to understand there is no longer a single Election Day and that we may not know the results on November 3.
Properly setting expectations ahead of time will be crucial. Never before have we depended so heavily on mail-in ballots in a presidential election, and we already know that some states may be counting votes in the days following the election. If we fail to have a national conversation about this reality, we run the risk of people buying into conspiracy theories and other disinformation as we process election results.
Social media companies must finally get their act together and stop people from spreading grotesque levels of disinformation and using their tools to threaten and harass election officials.
It is the responsibility of social media companies to take action against extremists who are spreading disinformation on their websites. We cannot allow any scenario where there is a widespread distribution of disinformation that will harm the integrity of our elections. Further, we need social media companies to prevent users from launching attacks against public officials who are administering the election. Otherwise our whole election process could be compromised.
Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, and I have written a letter to Mitch McConnell urging bi-partisan Senate committee hearings on this issue. At this historic moment we believe that Democrats and Republicans in the Senate must come together to guarantee the integrity of our election process.
Every agency at every level of government must do all it can to ensure that we have a free and fair election where every eligible voter can vote without intimidation, and where no one has to put his or her health or life in danger to cast a ballot. That is why Congress must hear directly from election officials to know what measures are being taken to make voting available to all and to ensure a smooth election process.
The longer it takes to count ballots after Election Day, the more we will be seeing chaos, conspiracy theories and social unrest. Faith in the election system will be undermined if election results are not determined as soon as possible.
Properly setting expectations ahead of time will be crucial. Never before have we depended so heavily on mail-in ballots in a presidential election, and we already know that some states may be counting votes in the days following the election. If we fail to have a national conversation about this reality, we run the risk of people buying into conspiracy theories and other disinformation as we process election results.
It is the responsibility of social media companies to take action against extremists who are spreading disinformation on their websites. We cannot allow any scenario where there is a widespread distribution of disinformation that will harm the integrity of our elections. Further, we need social media companies to prevent users from launching attacks against public officials who are administering the election. Otherwise our whole election process could be compromised.
Let me be very clear:
This is the most important election in the modern history of this country. And for the first time in America, it appears that we have a sitting president who will be reluctant to leave office if he fails to win re-election.
We absolutely must come together in November to defeat Trump by the largest margin possible and stop him from dragging our country in an authoritarian direction. Nothing less than the future of our democracy and our country is at stake.
Over the next 46 days, let us do all we can to deliver a decisive victory for Joe Biden on November 3. And once we do that, let us remain vigilant to see to it that Trump allows for the peaceful transition of power.
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