Maria Cantwell: “I appreciate Senator Dodd's strong commitment to this legislation. Together with Senator Murray I also appreciate his…”

“I appreciate Senator Dodd's strong commitment to this legislation. Together with Senator Murray I also appreciate his efforts here today to work with us on language that preserves the ability of States like ours, that have high volumes of absentee and mail-in voters, to continue to use those mail in systems. This amendment adds to the voting system standards section of the legislation to make sure that the ability of voters to vote by mail-in and absentee ballot is not limited by our efforts to improve the ability of other voters to cast accurate ballots in the polling place. This system is very important. The voters of my State are proud of this system and extremely committed to seeing it continue. In addition, I believe the voting by mail adequately protects against the types of problems encountered in Florida because in these elections voters take their time in casting their votes and are able to consult instructions and other ballot information. Voters in my State have made it clear that they are willing to work with the system but want to make sure mail-in ballots and absentee ballots are preserved. This amendment preserves the ability to vote by mail while also setting forth new safeguards that will better inform voters how to correctly fill out their ballot and ensure their votes are counted. I thank the leaders of this legislation for their support for this amendment.”