The ability to vote for people and policies that respect Black lives has always been a matter of life and death. But this year, certain accommodations for voters are urgently needed to protect our health and our rights from the COVID-19 outbreak and increases in violent rhetoric and behavior targeting Black people. After years of underfunding our elections infrastructure and administration, many states and communities don't have the common sense measures included in our 2020 Voter Justice Agenda that we've long needed to make voting less burdensome for Black voters and increase access to the ballot. 

Fortunately, we have the resources we need to protect our health and our votes this year. The $3.6 billion in the current version of the HEROES Act plus the $400 million from the CARES Act is the minimum states need in order to safeguard elections this year. It's crucial that we maintain or increase this amount in order to have free, fair, and safe elections in 2020. Join us to flood Congress with calls demanding that they protect our health and our democracy by fully funding or increasing the Election Resilience grants to states in the final version of the HEROES Act.  

We have everything we need to provide a decent quality of life for Black communities and everyone else in our society. Yet Black folks are suffering and dying needlessly because public officials have given the resources and representation we need to thrive to more privileged communities. This is what happens when we are undercounted, underfunded, and underrepresented in our government. 

Getting out the count and the vote this year will be critical for saving Black lives for the next decade and beyond. That’s what the OurCount movement and our 2020 Voter Justice Agenda is all about. Join the movement by calling your Senators now and demanding that they fully fund or increase the Election Resilience grants to states in the HEROES Act.