- Amy
Klobuchar
« Safeguard
Our
Elections,
Strengthen
our
Democracy
and
Restore Trust in Government
Amy for America
For Immediate Release
November 18, 2019
ATLANTA,
GA — Today, ahead of her democracy and
voting rights roundtable in Atlanta, Senator Amy Klobuchar released her plan to safeguard our elections,
strengthen our democracy and restore trust in government.
Senator Klobuchar believes
that
everything
we
talk
about
getting done – from taking on climate
change to gun safety to health care reform — will depend on one thing:
a democracy that works for the people and making sure every vote counts.
Today insidious forces are working to suppress the vote and drown out
people’s voices with dark money. And our intelligence agencies have
confirmed time and time again that there have been foreign attacks on
our elections, and that our elections remain a target. Republicans in
the Senate have repeatedly blocked Senator Klobuchar’s bipartisan legislation to strengthen our
election security while our country faces continued threats from
foreign adversaries.
Senator Klobuchar believes
it’s
time
to
take
back
our democracy. She has been a leader in the
fight to protect our elections from foreign interference, including by
securing $380 million in election security funds in 2018 so states
could improve their election infrastructure and protect their election
systems from cyberattacks. She leads bipartisan legislation in the
Senate that would protect our elections with paper ballots and
post-election audits, as well as the bipartisan legislation that would
promote accountability and transparency for political ads on the
internet.
Senator Klobuchar is
also
leading
the
effort
in
Congress to automatically register every
American to vote when they turn 18, and she has fought for the passage
of legislation that would restore the Voting
Rights Act to take on discrimination at the
polls. And she has worked to get dark money out of politics and restore
trust in government dating back to her first month as a Senator, when
she helped lead the successful push for meaningful ethics reform in
Congress.
As President, Senator Klobuchar will
champion
a
major
voting
rights
and democracy reform package and she has
already pledged that the For the People Act —
legislation
that
has
thirteen
of
Senator Klobuchar’s
legislative
provisions
— will be the
first bill she sends to Congress as President.
Read the full plan here.
Strengthening Election Security and Regulating Online
Political Ads
Promote accountability for political ads on the internet.
Senator Klobuchar wrote
and
introduced
the
bipartisan Honest Ads Act,
which would increase transparency and accountability for political ads
on the internet by holding large online platforms to the same
disclosure and disclaimer standards that apply to radio, broadcast,
cable and satellite providers. As President, Senator Klobuchar will push to pass the Honest
Ads
Act, work to pass the PAID ADs Act --
which
she
leads
in
the
Senate -- to make it illegal for foreign
nationals to purchase election ads, and work to ban foreign nationals
from involvement in decisions regarding political expenditures by
corporations, PACs and Super PACs. She will work to prohibit online
platforms from allowing political ads that discriminate against people
and require online platforms to use human reviewers to approve
political ads placed on their platforms. Today, there are no
protections preventing misleading and outright false political ads
online. That’s why Senator Klobuchar supports
preventing
social
media
companies
from
running political ads full of
false claims and lies by holding them responsible.
Take on disinformation campaigns and foreign efforts to
influence our elections. As President, Senator Klobuchar will require political
campaigns to report any attempt by a foreign entity to influence our
elections to the Federal Election Commission and Federal Bureau of
Investigation. She will also prohibit U.S. political campaigns from
offering non-public material to foreign entities. Senator Klobuchar will work to pass
legislation based on the Deceptive Practices and
Voter Intimidation Act, which she leads with Senator Cardin, to
make it illegal to knowingly deceive others about how to participate in
a federal election and to direct the Attorney General to work with
states to counter voter intimidation. She will invest in media literacy
education to teach students how to identify misinformation online,
based on her Digital Citizenship and Media
Literacy Act. Finally, she will work to pass the Combatting
Foreign
Influence
Act, which she leads in the Senate, to direct
the Director of National Intelligence to establish a Malign Foreign
Influence Response Center to coordinate work across the intelligence
community and law enforcement to assess foreign influence operations
with a whole-of-government approach.
Build U.S. cyber expertise to defend our elections. As
President,
Senator Klobuchar will
make
cybersecurity
an
immediate
priority.
She will issue an Executive
Order launching government-wide cybersecurity initiatives,
fast-tracking and streamlining procurement of modern information
technology across agencies. She will launch a cabinet-level taskforce
on election cybersecurity to coordinate across agencies, including the
intelligence community, on how the federal government can work with
state and local governments to address cyber threats to our democracy
and infrastructure. She will also work to pass legislation based on the Invest
in
Our
Democracy
Act, bipartisan legislation she
leads in the Senate, to provide grants to states for election officials
to receive continuing education in cybersecurity and election
administration.
Fortify state election infrastructure against cyberattacks.
Senator Klobuchar leads
the
effort
to
require
all
jurisdictions to have paper ballots through
her Election Security Act, but Senator
McConnell and the White House have prevented the bill from coming to a
vote. She also led the successful effort to secure $380 million for
State Election Security Grants in 2018. As President, Senator Klobuchar will require states to
use paper ballots, set strong cybersecurity standards for voting
infrastructure, increase grants to states for upgrades to their voting
infrastructure and promote the use of post-election risk-limiting
audits. These proposals are based on Senator Klobuchar’s legislation, Senator Wyden’s Protecting
American
Votes
and
Elections
Act of 2019, which
Senator Klobuchar co-sponsors
in
the
Senate,
and
the SAFE Act, which
passed the House in June 2019. She will also require the Director of
National Intelligence to assess election threats and work with the
Department of Homeland Security and Election Assistance Commission to
provide assistance to states to counter those threats.
Eliminating Obstacles to Voting and Making It Easier to
Vote
Automatically register every American when they turn 18. Senator Klobuchar believes we must do more
to reduce barriers to voting. In the Senate, she has championed the Register
America
to
Vote
Act to automatically register
all eligible citizens on their eighteenth birthday and she will get it
passed as President. Automatically registering voters in every state
would result in 22 million newly registered voters in just the first
year of implementation, according to the Center for American Progress.
Senator Klobuchar will
also
launch
a
pilot
program
to provide resources for initiatives that
provide 12th graders with voter registration information. This proposal
is based on the Students VOTE Act,
legislation Senator Klobuchar leads
in
the
Senate.
Restore the Voting Rights Act. Senator Klobuchar has long advocated for
Congress to take action to address the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013
decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which struck down key parts of the Voting
Rights
Act. As President, she will restore protections for voters
in states with a recent history of discrimination. Senator Klobuchar will also champion the Native
American
Voting
Rights
Act, legislation she helps lead in the
Senate, to provide the necessary resources and oversight to ensure
Native Americans have equal access to the ballot box and the electoral
process.
Prohibit voter purges and remove exact-match requirements.
Senator Klobuchar has
pushed
to
protect
the
constitutional
rights of Americans from voter
purges, which disproportionately impact minority, low-income, disabled,
and veteran voters. In Georgia, former Secretary of State Brian Kemp
purged over 1.4 million voters from the rolls and held up the voter
registrations of 53,000 people because of things like a discrepancy
over a hyphen in a last name. As President, Senator Klobuchar will pass her bill with
Senator Brown, the SAVE Voters Act, to
prohibit states from purging Americans from voter rolls for not voting
in recent elections. The bill amends the National
Voter Registration Act to prevent a state from
using someone’s failure to vote or respond to a state notice as reason
to target them for removal from voter rolls. Senator Klobuchar will also work with
Congress to pass legislation requiring states to remove “exact-match”
requirements and other unnecessary and discriminatory obstacles to
registering to vote.
Break down institutional barriers to voting. Senator Klobuchar believes we must do more
to make it easier for Americans to vote — not harder. As President, she
will champion reforms to break down institutional barriers to voting,
including:
-
Promote early voting and no-excuse absentee voting. Nine states do not offer early voting and in 19 states an excuse is required to vote absentee. Senator Klobuchar will push to make voting more convenient and support voter participation by working with states to establish early voting and no-excuse absentee voting nationwide.
-
Establish minimum notification requirements for voters affected by polling place changes. Senator Klobuchar will stand up to attempts to suppress voter turnout by requiring states notify voters affected by polling place changes no later than seven days before the date of the election or the first day of an early voting period.
-
Designate election day as a federal holiday. Senator Klobuchar will designate election day as a federal holiday.
-
Establish Same Day Registration. In addition to championing her legislation to automatically register every American when they turn 18, Senator Klobuchar will also pass legislation she leads in the Senate, the Same Day Voter Registration Act, that requires states to allow people to register to vote on the same day as the election.
Increase
accessibility
in
voting for people with disabilities. Senator
Klobuchar believes we need
to make
it easier for the voices of people with disabilities to be heard on
Election Day. As President, she will strengthen requirements for
increased accessibility at polling places and expand resources by
providing grants for states to make it easier for people with
disabilities to vote.
Ensure ballots are counted from Americans living overseas and
those serving in the military and their family members. Senator Klobuchar believes we should be
doing everything we can to make voting easier for every American –
including the 3 million Americans living overseas and more than 1.3
million active duty service members. Recently, she was successful in
passing a provision in the Senate’s 2020 National
Defense Authorization Act that would require
Federal Voting Assistance Program to conduct a comprehensive study on
how to scale a ballot tracking program for all military and overseas
voters. As President, she will push to require states to ensure that
all overseas voters receive their ballots at least 45 days before an
election; improve the availability and transmission of absentee ballots
abroad; and ensure that those ballots are counted by hand in any
recount or audit. In addition, Senator Klobuchar will make sure that
spouses of active duty service members do not have to change their
legal residency each time they move for a military reassignment, a
proposal that is based on the Support our
Military Spouses Act, legislation she has championed in the
Senate.
Ensure that those affected by natural disasters can still vote. As
the
effects
of
climate
change
become more disruptive, Senator Klobuchar believes
that it is
especially important to ensure that natural disasters do not prevent
Americans from voting. As President, she will ensure that people living
in areas where an emergency has been declared, those who have been
displaced by a natural disaster, and professional or volunteer service
emergency responders have access to an absentee ballot. In addition,
anyone who expects to be hospitalized on Election Day or is not able to
receive a requested absentee ballot from their state or jurisdiction
would also be eligible to receive an emergency ballot. This proposal is
based on the Natural Disaster Emergency Ballot Act,
legislation
Senator Klobuchar has
championed
in
the
Senate.
Overhauling Our Campaign Finance System
Overturn
Citizens
United. Senator Klobuchar believes that the surge
in special interest cash in political campaigns since the Citizens
United Supreme Court decision is undermining our elections and shaking
the public’s trust in our elections. She will lead the effort to pass a
constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and get the dark
money out of politics.
Establish a public financing system and increase the power of
small donors. Senator Klobuchar has
long
pushed
for
meaningful
campaign
finance reform to ensure the voices
of average Americans are heard. As President, Senator Klobuchar will push to establish a
campaign finance system to increase the power of small donors that
matches 6-to-1 donations of $200 or less to eligible candidates.
Reform the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Senator Klobuchar believes that gridlock
in the FEC — including the recent lack in quorum — has prevented the
Commission from fully playing its role in administering and enforcing
federal campaign finance laws. She has called on President Donald Trump
to work with the Senate to help reestablish a quorum by nominating a
commissioner to fill the vacant Democratic seat. And as President she
will advance critical reforms to ensure a fully functioning FEC,
including reducing the number of members from 6 to 5, ensuring the
Commission has an accountable Chair with clear distribution of duties
between the Chair and the FEC, and preventing commissioners from
remaining in office indefinitely as holdovers. This proposal is based
on the Campaign Finance Transparency Act, legislation
she
leads
in
the
Senate.
Increase transparency in political spending. Senator Klobuchar believes that we must do
more to shine a light on the corporate dark money spending. As
President, she will champion the passage of the DISCLOSE
Act, legislation she co-sponsors in the Senate, requiring
corporations, super PACs and certain non-profits to promptly disclose
election spending of $10,000 or more and list any donor who gives over
$10,000 to the organization.
Ensuring Free and Fair Elections
End partisan gerrymandering. Senator Klobuchar believes that partisan
gerrymandering undermines the principles of our democracy. She has
signed the Fair Districts Pledge developed by former Attorney General
Eric Holder and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee to
support fair redistricting that ends map manipulation and creates truly
representative districts. Particularly in the wake of the 2019 Supreme
Court decision that effectively gave the greenlight to politically
manipulate congressional districts, Senator Klobuchar will require states to
establish independent, bipartisan redistricting commissions that will
develop fair statewide district maps following each decennial census.
This proposal is based on the Redistricting
Reform Act, legislation Senator Klobuchar leads
in
the
Senate.
Improve the treatment of provisional ballots. Senator Klobuchar will require states to
establish uniform and nondiscriminatory standards for issuing,
handling, and counting provisional ballots including requiring
provisional ballots from eligible voters who voted at the wrong voting
place to be counted.
Restore Americans’ right to vote after being released from
incarceration. Senator Klobuchar believes that Americans
who have been released from incarceration should be able to exercise
their right to vote. As President she will restore citizens’ right to
vote after being released from incarceration.
Restoring Trust in Government
Ensure that the President is not above the law. Senator Klobuchar believes we must take
urgent action to reverse the harm President Trump has done to his
office by openly flaunting the rule of law. She will instruct the
Justice Department to withdraw the Office of Legal Counsel’s opinions
prohibiting the indictment of a sitting president. She will also make
it clear that the President and Vice President have to follow conflict
of interest laws and require the President and major candidates for
President to make their tax returns publicly available.
Overhaul ethics rules for White House employees and other
senior officials. Senator Klobuchar believes that
accountability starts at the top, and that in addition to strengthening
accountability for the President, we must have the highest ethical
standards for White House employees and other senior officials. Senator Klobuchar will strengthen
investigations of foreign agents who lobby in the United States, give
the Office of Government Ethics more enforcement power and provide
additional protections for all Special Counsels. She will also publicly
post executive branch ethics waivers and report senior officials’
conflicts of interest in rulemaking.
Strengthen protections for whistleblowers. Senator Klobuchar believes that the best
way to encourage individuals with knowledge of wrongdoing to come
forward is to provide and enforce strong protections for
whistleblowers. Within her first 100 days in office, Senator Klobuchar will issue guidance
affirming that the Department of Justice cannot intervene in the
transmission of a whistleblower complaint to Congress under the
Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act. She will also work
with Congress to expand whistleblower protections, including for
government contractors, and direct all federal agencies to fully
implement whistleblower education and anti-retaliation plans.
Increase transparency and protect journalists. As the daughter of a
newspaper man, Senator Klobuchar has
always
believed
transparency
and
journalism
are critical to our
nation’s democracy. Within her first 100 days in office, she will
restore former Attorney General Eric Holder’s guidance on protections
for journalists so that they are not jailed for doing their jobs.
Senator Klobuchar will
also
direct
the
Office
of
Legal Counsel to make all of its opinions
publicly available unless there is a compelling national security
reason to prevent their release. She will fully fund Freedom of
Information Act offices within executive agencies and direct them to
post FOIA requests online.
###