RALEIGH – On Tuesday, the NC House Select Committee on COVID-19 working group on continuity of state operations will meet. Common Cause NC urges the committee, and the General Assembly as a whole, to take action toward enacting changes to ensure every eligible North Carolina voter is able to safely and securely cast a ballot in this year’s elections.

The recommendations from Common Cause NC include:

• making absentee vote-by-mail more accessible
• increasing public promotion of the absentee vote-by-mail option
• ensuring free return mail postage on absentee ballots
• providing counties the resources to recruit more poll workers for November
• giving counties the flexibility to create, and more funds to support, early voting plans that reflect needs for the fall election
• providing resources to ensure polling places are properly sanitized
• ensuring any and all government meetings that occur remotely during this time are fully open and transparent to the people of North Carolina

“In this time of crisis, it’s crucial that we act now to fully prepare for the upcoming election,” said Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause NC. “Our state leaders must adopt needed measures to ensure every eligible voter in North Carolina is able to safely and securely cast a ballot.”

Common Cause NC is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy.

Media contact: Bryan Warner, Common Cause NC, at 919-836-0027 or bwarner@commoncause.org