House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sparred Thursday over whether Congress should address funding for the 2020 elections in the next coronavirus package.
Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, accused Mrs. Pelosi of using the pandemic to uproot election laws and pursue partisan priorities. Meanwhile, he argued, the focus should be on issues directly related to combating the coronavirus.
“I don’t see the need for that right now,” he told reporters on a conference call. “I know she wants to look at changing elections laws. I know she wants to look at putting in the Green New Deal. I know she’s been saying [something] about funding for Planned Parenthood.”
“She can worry about the election in November,” he added.
The speaker shot back at her own press conference, arguing that Republicans are afraid of expanding and reforming election laws.
“[McCarthy] shouldn’t belittle the ability of Republicans to make their voices heard for the candidates they support and not of the voice of the people, but they [Republicans] are,” the California Democrat said. “That’s one of the reasons they want to stand in the way of a more open Democratic system.”
Democrats have called for at least $2 billion to shore up states’ ability to expand access to their elections given the health concerns ordering the public to shelter indoors as much as possible.
In their phase three proposal, House Democrats were accused of pursuing a partisan wishlist over core bipartisan solutions targeting the problem.
They wanted to provide $4 billion in grants for states to continue with the scheduled 2020 election, while requiring that they expand early and absentee voting opportunities with a 15-day window — including providing self-sealing envelops and prepaid postage for mail-in ballots.
The proposed voting regulations also required states to allow same-day voter registration and no longer request the last four digits of Social Security numbers.
Mr. McCarthy warned against using the health crisis to federalize the national election and argued states should be allowed to determine how their elections should be held.
He highlighted as an example California, which opted to expand its vote by mail options.
However, Republicans have warned that mail-in ballots are vulnerable to abuse.
“There’s also a lot of fraud that you get with vote by mail. You watch the ability of people harvesting ballots,” Mr. McCarthy said.
Mrs. Pelosi dismissed those concerns, saying it was an option to encourage more participation during the pandemic.
“Some people may prefer to go to the polls but the lower that number is the healthier for everyone,” she said.
Several states struggled with how to hold primaries as health advisories discourage large gatherings, with many — most recently New Jersey — postponing voting until the summer months.
Just this week, however, Wisconsin went ahead with a chaotic primary. Thousands of voters needed to wait in line at crowded polling locations in order to cast their votes in time, while others elected to stay home and not participate.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.