WASHINGTON - Vote Climate U.S. PAC works to elect candidates to get off fossil fuels and put a fee on carbon, in order to slow climate change and related weather extremes. Since global pandemics are directly linked to climate change, two things are non-negotiable this election season as the U.S. looks toward the future: Americans need to safely cast their ballots and we must vote for climate action in November.

“We must make climate zero Donald J. Trump a one-term President if we hope to slow climate change. Voters also need to think about how far President Trump might go to maintain power as his first term comes to an end in these turbulent times, when in his more lucid moments, he very seriously speculates on Americans injecting disinfectant as a defense against COVID 19,” said Vote Climate U.S. PAC President Karyn Strickler.

Democrats proposed reforms to make voting easier as part of the coronavirus stimulus, including mail-in voting. Trump is quoted in The Guardian saying, “They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” If he thinks that making voting easier means Republicans will never win again, will he make it more difficult? Will he postpone or cancel the 2020 elections? Will he force Americans to vote in person, risking their lives, during a resurgence of the pandemic this Fall?

Primary elections across the country have already been postponed and rescheduled. Wisconsin was so desperate for new leadership that they voted in-person amid this deadly pandemic, after their Democratic Governor issued an order to postpone in-person voting and the Republican Supreme Court blocked it. All voters can likely expect ongoing Republican voter suppression and Russian interference by any means possible.

Make sure you are prepared now to vote remotely in November. Start by educating yourself. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) addresses absentee voting and all-mail voting. They say, “All states will mail an absentee ballot to certain voters who request one. In two-thirds of the states, any qualified voter may vote absentee without offering an excuse, and in one-third of the states, an excuse is required,” and “In a handful of states, a ballot is automatically mailed to every eligible voter (no request or application is necessary).” Our Vote Climate U.S. PAC President, Karyn Strickler just signed-up for her own absentee ballot at the U.S. Vote Foundation. It took less than 5 minutes to file, a few more to print and mail. Every voter, from every state can use this form.

Coming in September, Vote Climate U.S. PAC’s 2020 Congressional Voter’s Guide makes it easy for every American to elect climate-action candidates. We are currently researching the 2020 Voter’s Guide which rates every U.S. House and U.S. Senate incumbent and challenger, giving climate calculations to each, from climate hero to zero. Vote Climate U.S. PAC is a nonpartisan organization, but the partisan divide on the issue of climate change is undeniable and unacceptable. For example, in our analysis of our 2018 research, for our Voter’s Guide, we found that the average, overall climate calculation for incumbent Democrats in the U.S. Senate was 85.3 versus Republicans, who scored .63 on average.

Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) was right during Trump’s impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate when he said, “You cannot trust this president to do what’s right for this country.” So Americans and our governors must look out for ourselves in the November election, just as we have been doing during the COVID 19 pandemic. Karyn Strickler said, “Register now to vote by mail. In September consult our Vote Climate U.S. PAC Voter’s Guide to vote climate for the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Share the guide widely because if used as intended, our Voter’s Guide could transform the politics of climate change in a single election, creating a climate-action majority on the federal level.