In a Tuesday press conference, North Dakota Senator, Kevin Cramer (GOP), said that voters should “stop being so afraid” of in-person voting despite the current rise in COVID-19 cases.
What We Know:
- When asked if he was concerned of the fear citizens may have of in-person voting and if they should be afforded, essentially, a back up plan due to the current state of the pandemic, Senator Cramer stated, “Well, my first thing would be, stop being so afraid. That would be my first bit of advice.”
GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota tells @nancycordes that voters should “stop being so afraid” to vote in person, before suggesting that the coronavirus death toll might be inflated https://t.co/2YaaMmDurh pic.twitter.com/Tmr764mskm
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 4, 2020
- Recently, the U.S. reached a record of a coronavirus death every minute. This caused great concern over the upcoming November election, with the spotlight on mail-in ballots and the safety and security of the general election. This has been a foggy topic due to doubts that have been casted by the president regarding the security of mail-in ballots. So far, there has been no notable evidence of vote-by-mail being fraudulent in any way.
- The senator did not stop there. Cramer went on to say that if the death toll is what people are afraid of, he “know[s] several where coronavirus was not the cause of death, but yet they’re counted as a coronavirus death”. Meanwhile, public health experts claim that it is more likely that the death toll is undercounted due to patients that may have died without being tested for the virus and due to misidentification in the beginning months of the viral pandemic.
- Cramer thinks, according to the press release, that instead of subjecting the entire country to vote-by-mail we should be having discussions on how to better accommodate in-person voting to the current state of the nation. The senators suggestion: “Maybe we have a three-day election day that accommodates spreading people out.”
Overall, the senator’s intention was clear – remain creative to making all voting options safer for citizens despite the current pandemic. Many don’t agree with the manner in which he expressed the idea, however, there are conversations to be had regarding the expansion of safety measures for in-person voting in the coming general election.
