U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, recently pushed the House Appropriations Committee to preserve Washington state’s widely used vote-by-mail system, according to a news release from her office.
During a heated debate in the committee, the congresswoman encouraged her colleagues to support her amendment to the Financial Services and General Government spending bill, which would prohibit funds from being used by the federal government to restrict access to mail-in voting for any eligible citizen, according to the news release from Gluesenkamp Perez.
“Washington state has been using mail ballots for decades for safe and secure election administration,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in the release. “Mail-in voting ensures that all Americans, whether working shift jobs, raising young children, or living in rural areas, have their ballots counted. Working people don’t have the time to wait all day in line to vote.”
She added: “I want to recognize that mail ballots are the gold standard for having a full, auditable paper trail of election records, which aligns with the Election Assistance Commission’s guidance for secure elections.”
Following debate in the committee, her amendment was voted down.
Gluesenkamp Perez offered a similar amendment in last year’s bill that was also rejected. Recently, she signed a letter with her colleagues calling on the president to revoke his recent executive order restricting access to mail-in voting.
