Progressive Turnout Project Hosts Virtual Town Hall with Rep. Sean Casten

For Immediate Release:

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Progressive Turnout Project Hosts Virtual Town Hall with Rep. Sean Casten on COVID-19 & Need for Vote By Mail Protections

Casten: “Folks who are opposing vote-by-mail aren’t opposing fraud, they’re opposing voting.”

See Video From Call Here

CHICAGO –Tonight, Progressive Turnout Project and Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) hosted a virtual town hall with activists to hear about Congress’ latest response to COVID-19 and to fire up voters to fight for election safeguards like vote-by-mail.

Rep. Casten spoke with PTP and progressive activists about creative actions they could take during the pandemic, including phone and text banking from home, registering people to vote online, and sharing resources to make sure voters are educated on the issues. 

“We’ve got to push through and get vote-by-mail,” Rep. Casten said. “The idea that voter fraud is done by vote-by-mail is complete fiction. The folks who are opposing vote-by-mail aren’t opposing fraud, they’re opposing voting.”

The town hall is the first in a series of virtual events with elected officials that Progressive Turnout Project is planning for the spring and summer around core issues like expanding vote-by-mail and ensuring future stimulus funding doesn’t leave working families behind.

“Donald Trump’s response to COVID-19 has left every single voter in America at risk,” said Alex Morgan, Executive Director. “That’s why we need Democrats like Rep. Casten in office to continue pushing the needle on making voting accessible to all so we can ensure voters will be safe before Election Day.”  

“The virus doesn’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican,” said Rep. Casten. “We’ve got to be transparent and make sure we have economic resources going to marginalized communities. It shouldn’t be the case that we have to say, well if we had a Democratic administration we’d treat this as a scientific problem. It speaks volumes about where our politics is.”  

In 2018, Progressive Turnout Project had a field program in IL-06, spending $352,693, knocking 93,805 doors, making 80,061 phone calls, and sending 36,244 text messages to help elect Rep. Sean Casten. In Congress, Casten has been a proponent of voting rights, co-sponsoring critical voting rights legislation like H.R. 1. PTP is proud to endorse Casten again this cycle.

“Expanding voting access and voting rights is a key response to COVID-19,” said Morgan. “Rep. Casten is on the frontlines of the fight for keeping voters and our elections safe. He has our backs in Congress, and we’re going to have his during his reelection campaign.” 

More On Progressive Turnout Project’s Field Program & Background:

  • Progressive Turnout Project will knock on 10.5 million doors this cycle and target 3.9M young voters and 4.3M people of color (including 1M Latinos and 3M African-Americans) this cycle.
  • Our 1,100 field staff will be on the ground in 17 states, with 74 field offices nationwide to support candidates in 15 Senate races and 34 House races.
  • In May, Progressive Turnout Project will be announcing our largest slate of endorsement candidates ever, including challengers in critical Senate races, vulnerable House frontliners, and House candidates in red-to-blue districts.
  • Since its inception in 2015, Progressive Turnout Project has raised over $65.7 million with a supporter base of over 3.9 million, and invested in voter-turnout programs in 130 House and Senate races. Our average donation is $14.51.

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Progressive Turnout Project is a grassroots-funded political action committee with a single mission: get Democrats to the polls. PTP designs, tests, and executes specialized voter-turnout programs targeting inconsistent Democratic voters in the most competitive elections across the country. In 2020, the organization will invest $52.5 million to knock on over 10.5 million doors and get out the vote in 17 presidential and Senate battleground states.