RALEIGH – As North Carolina legislators continue their working groups in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and get ready for a legislative session, Common Cause NC encourages lawmakers to enact bipartisan solutions that can adequately prepare our state for the upcoming election.

The following is a statement from Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause NC:

“It’s encouraging to see an increased spirit of bipartisanship among the legislative working groups tasked with responding to the impact of COVID-19, and we hope that spirit will endure as the people of our state continue to face this crisis. In addition to addressing health, economic and educational challenges, our state must rise to the challenge of conducting free and fair elections amid the pandemic. We urge lawmakers to set aside partisan politics and work with our state’s election officials to ensure every eligible voter is able to safely and securely cast a ballot in this year’s election.”

In order to prepare for the upcoming elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Common Cause NC recommends:

• making absentee vote-by-mail more accessible
• increasing public promotion of the absentee vote-by-mail option
• ensuring free return mail postage on absentee ballot request forms and absentee ballots
• providing counties the resources to recruit more poll workers
• 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

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