As the public health and economic crisis spurred by the novel coronavirus continues to spread, I wanted to take a moment to tell you how MapLight is responding to the new and serious ways the pandemic is impacting our democracy.

This week, we joined a broad coalition of organizations in urging elected officials to adopt and fund policies that will protect the integrity of elections during the outbreak. The requests, organized by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, include provisions aimed at making sure that voting for all Americans is fair, accessible, and safe. Recommendations include specific measures states and localities can take on issues including voter registration, early in-person voting, voting by mail, polling place adjustments, voter education, and combating misinformation.The letter and full list of recommendations is available here. 

In the coming weeks, our staff will be working to identify the additional ways in which the coronavirus is impacting our democracy while continuing to shine a light on the outsize influence of money in politics and pushing lawmakers and technology platforms to fight the spread of deceptive online information. As our nation mobilizes to respond to the crisis, we must remember that the strength of our democracy will be a key component in our recovery.

We wish you good health and resilience during this challenging and distressing time. Thank you for your support for protecting our democracy.

Best,
Dan

Daniel G. Newman
President & Co-Founder