Fighting for a Free and Fair Election for All Americans

Dear Friends,

In these past weeks and months, President Trump has unleashed a torrent of false statements and disinformation about America’s election security, and especially about mail-in-voting that millions of Americans have to rely on this year to safely cast their ballots.

These deeply disturbing claims fly in the face of his own Administration’s intelligence findings and law-enforcement leadership. More ominously, they appear to be a deliberate push to cast serious and unwarranted doubt on the integrity of our elections, a fundamental pillar of our democracy that America’s enemies have long sought to undermine.

Politics aside, this is a fact: voting by mail is proven to be overwhelmingly secure. And with the pandemic continuing to rage, we must take steps to fortify our elections and make sure every American’s voting rights are honored and protected.

Strengthening the security and integrity of our elections was our first and highest priority when Democrats gained the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2019, during the earliest days of our Democratic-led House, we advanced H.R. 1, the For the People Act, landmark legislation to protect and expand voter rights, shine sunlight on dark money from politics and guarantee free and fair elections for the American people.

H.R. 1: For the People Act makes critical reforms across three key areas, including:

• Protecting and promoting clean and fair elections, expanding access to the ballot box by removing institutional barriers such as disenfranchisement and limited voting hours. Our bill also enhances federal support for voting system security and promotes integrity by restoring the Voting Rights Act and putting an end to partisan gerrymandering to prevent politicians from picking their voters.
  

• Ending the dominance of big money in our politics: H.R. 1 requires that all organizations involved in political activity disclose their large donors; and it amplifies the political power of everyday Americans—not special interests—by creating a multiple dollar matching system for small individual donations.
  

• Ensuring public officials work for the public interest: H.R. 1 increases accountability by, among other things, preventing Members of Congress from serving on corporate boards, and requiring presidents to disclose their tax returns to the American people.

We built on this work with the passage of H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, legislation that would restore the full powers of the original landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act by, among other things, restoring “pre-clearance”, a key provision struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder that opened the door for anti-voting rights states to impose significant voter suppression through scientifically-unfounded voter ID laws and other extreme measures.

Our fight for election security could not be more vital to the strength of our democratic republic, and it has taken on added urgency in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis and President Trump’s relentless efforts to undermine the democratic process.

Our House majority once again delivered real, commonsense solutions by advancing an updated Heroes Act that, in addition to providing needed rescue for American families, workers and businesses, supplies $3.6 billion in federal resources to states that can be used to support early voting, voting-by-mail, hiring and recruitment of poll workers, PPE for poll workers, cybersecurity of voter registration databases, and much more.

When the U.S. Senate reconvenes later this month to force through the President’s political agenda and shape the Supreme Court against the wishes of most Americans, I also urge them to take up these critical pieces of legislation that address the far more urgent issue of ensuring a safe and secure election for the American people.

Our democracy is only as strong as our elections. Congress must do everything in its power to protect the right to vote for each and every American. I, for one, will never stop fighting.

DID YOU KNOW?

Throughout this pandemic, my office and I have worked to make sure you remain informed with the latest updates and recommendations on any and all COVID-19 related topics. With that in mind here is some information that may be of interest to you:

• Taxpayers who filed an extension of their 2019 tax returns to October 15 must file their tax returns on or before the deadline.
• Convenient electronic filing options, including IRS Free File, are still available. Taxpayers and tax professionals should continue to use electronic options to support social distancing and speed the processing of tax returns, refunds and payments.
• Although October 15 is the last day for most people to file, some taxpayers may have more time. They include:
  
  • Members of the military and others serving in a combat zone. They typically have 180 days after they leave the combat zone to file returns and pay any taxes due.
  • Taxpayers in federally declared disaster areas who already had valid extensions. For details, see the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.
• Several payment options are available on IRS.gov/payments to help taxpayers who can't pay in full and some can offer taxpayers smaller penalties. Taxpayers should know:
  • Though interest and late-payment penalties continue to accrue on any unpaid taxes after the original July 15 due date, the failure to pay tax penalty rate is cut in half while an installment agreement is in effect.
  • The usual penalty rate of 0.5% per month is reduced to 0.25% per month. For the calendar quarter beginning Oct. 1, 2020, the interest rate for underpayment is 3%.