Cantwell Defends Voting Rights on the Senate Floor, Highlights Success of Washington State Vote-By-Mail, Business Leader Support

Statement

Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) spoke twice on the Senate floor for over an hour in total in support of passing legislation to strengthen voting rights protections. During her remarks, she highlighted the success of Washington state's vote-by-mail system and support for voting rights legislation from prominent business leaders across the country.

"We have to have faith in close elections, and the best way to do that is not to suppress the vote but encourage and empower more people to vote in a safe and secure manner. We need to believe in our voting system, not believe that we can undermine it. Democracies don't grow on trees. They need to be protected. They need to be defended. They need to be fought for," said Senator Cantwell. "What we need to do now is to protect our democracy. We need to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act... Let's vote to get this done. Let's move forward to show our country we believe in voting rights in the United States Senate."

Cantwell spoke at length about the safety, security and successes of the vote-by-mail system in Washington state, "I'm proud of the 84% turnout in the State of Washington in a presidential election year thanks to vote-by-mail. And I'm proud that vote-by-mail, I think, is the antidote to the accusations that people have about a voting system that they think can be attacked by a foreign government or undermined in an electronic voting system."

She also spoke prominently about the hundreds of businesses that have come out in vocal support of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, Cantwell stated, "These are all corporations who know the importance of doing business in the United States, the importance of a democracy, and they've got to be scared about what they're seeing… People want to do business in stable countries where you have a free and fair election."

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