Brady and March For Our Lives Condemn Presidential Attack on 2020 Election, Underscores Need For Increased Election Resources, Funding

Washington, D.C., July 30, 2020 – Today, the Brady Campaign, March For Our Lives, and Team ENOUGH condemn President Trump’s call to delay the 2020 election, despite having no authority to do so, and calls on the President and Congress to instead properly fund election infrastructure and security to maximize participation in our democracy and protect its integrity.

Brady Campaign President Kris Brown shared:

“We were provided a strong contrast in leadership today as our President suggested that the country ‘delay the [2020] election,’ while our nation paid tribute to Congressman John Lewis, who spent his life advocating for the expansion of voting rights and posthumously published an essay in the New York Times calling on all of us to engage in and defend our democracy with ‘the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love.’

The President has continued to cast doubt on the efficacy and safety of voting by mail, accused opponents of fraud, and threatened not to accept the results of the election. This is a serious threat to the integrity of our elections and therefore to our movement’s goal of creating a safer America. The gun violence prevention movement has been clear that access to the ballot and participation in our democracy are necessary to enact comprehensive gun violence prevention policy and that we use all tools available to increase access to voting. We need universal mail-in voting, in-person voting, early voting, and online and same-day voter registration. The President can work with Congress to defend our elections by properly funding election infrastructure and security, but has not done so. The Senate Majority relief package ignored the House’s HEROES Act funding to ensure that the November election is safe, equitable, and accessible to all. Congressman Lewis warned us in his essay that we must use our right to vote, ‘because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.’ We must remain clear in that fact and focused on expanding our democracy this November.”

Furthermore, March For Our Lives’ Executive Director Alexis Confer added:

“The right of all-Americans to vote should not and cannot be suppressed or interfered with. The President’s baseless tweets are dangerous and a threat to our democracy, plain and simple. It is essential that we call on the Congress to enact wide-ranging protections and expansion of voting rights, including: universal vote-by-mail, early-voting, and online and same-day registration. Moving forward, we must show our nation’s young people that their ballots – no matter how they vote – are safe and will be counted and protected. Because, come November, young Americans of all backgrounds will be making themselves heard en masse. We cannot allow our voices and our votes to be silenced. Voting is our most important fundamental right we have as citizens. It will be incumbent upon all of us to continue the fight for justice and shape our future for the better. And that starts by protecting and expanding the right to vote – regardless of the lies and deceit from The White House.”

The Team ENOUGH Executive Council shared:

“This year’s election comes in the midst of a global pandemic which has disproportionately affected Black and Brown communities, uprooted many individuals and families from their lives, and devastated the economy. That fact that President Trump would add to the uncertainty, fear, and confusion we are all facing by continually calling into question the legitimacy of the election is unsurprising but no less abhorrent or repellent. The President’s tweet this morning is just his latest tactic from his authoritarian playbook. It is essential that our government work to increase access to democracy for all, not undermine it. We must expand ballot access and voter restoration efforts, particularly to ensure that the many people across this country who are actively and historically disenfranchised are heard in November and able to participate in order to create real change in our country.”

The ability to participate in our democracy is inseparable from the effort to end gun violence. Too often, our nation’s historic and systemic inequities mean that those most affected by gun violence are the least represented in the halls of power. To rectify this, Brady, March For Our Lives, and Team ENOUGH will continue to activate at the grassroots level to ensure that lawmakers are both accountable to and reflective of their communities.

Brady, March for Our Lives, and Team ENOUGH’s #VotingAccessSavesLives campaign provides concrete actions that Americans everywhere can take, as well as policy recommendations for elected officials to maximize the opportunity for all Americans to participate in our democracy if they so choose. These recommendations emphasize four key areas:

1. Vote-by-mail and absentee voting
2. Online and same-day voter registration
3. Early voting
4. Restoring voting rights to people with felony convictions

Brady, March For Our Lives, and Team ENOUGH will continue to activate until and through the November election, which - despite the President’s tweets - will occur on Tuesday, November 3, 2020.