More than 200 business owners are calling on others to support federal reforms to strengthen election laws.

Senate Democrats were unable to change the filibuster rules Wednesday night to pass legislation expanding voting access across the country.

Barry Cik, owner of Naturepedic, an organic mattress company in northeast Ohio and a member of the American Sustainable Business Network, said businesses understand a functioning economy relies on a functioning democracy, which, he emphasized, requires citizen involvement.

"If I may be a little bit harsh, we can't just trust government to do the right thing," Cik contended. "We need citizen participation. We want a society where everybody's treated equal, everybody has a chance to succeed. Voting rights is one part of that."

The bill defeated in the Senate would have established minimum federal voting standards. It was a response to dozens of bills passed in GOP-controlled states Democrats argued were designed to make it harder to vote.

Some Senate Republicans are now discussing launching a bipartisan effort to pass a smaller bill focused on safeguarding election results and protecting elected officials from harassment.

Thomas Oppel, executive vice president of the American Sustainable Business Network, said measures restricting access to the ballot can lead to an autocratic government favoring special interests and limiting entrepreneurship.

"If people don't have confidence in their government, you're going to end up with 'crony capitalism,'" Oppel asserted. "Where it's not about your ability to deliver a quality product or deliver a better price. It's about who you know, what connections you have, and how much corruption and graft you're willing to put up with."

Oppel believes creating more opportunities to vote is helpful for small businesses.

"Most businesses in this country are small businesses and in many cases, they operate with very few employees," Oppel pointed out. "If you're a small-business person, it can be really hard for you to get away from your enterprise to go vote yourself, let alone making sure your employees get there and vote."

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The Nevada primary election is June 14, and early voting starts tomorrow and runs through June 10. Mail balloting is now permanent, so every active registered Nevada voter will receive a ballot in the mail any day now, if they have not already.

When you have made your choices, you can drop your ballot in the mail, bring it to an early voting site, or vote in person; early, or on Election Day.

Barry Gold, director of government relations for AARP Nevada, said about 40% of people choose to vote early in every election, and you can vote at any early-voting site in your county.

"Mail ballots were not found to have any fraud in the state of Nevada in the last election; mail ballots are secure," Gold pointed out. "You have to make sure that you sign your mail ballot, and it has to be postmarked by Election Day, so it arrives in time for it to be counted."

If your signature is missing or doesn't quite match, the county will reach out to reconcile the issue. You can find all kinds of voting information on the Nevada Secretary of State's website, with your county registrar, or at AARP.org/nvvotes.

Gold advised people need to remember Nevada is a "closed-primary" state, which means you can only vote in the primary for most races -- like governor or the Senate or House seats -- if you declared yourself a member of one of the political parties when you registered to vote. If you are registered 'nonpartisan,' your primary ballot may only have a judicial race listed.

"A lot of people get confused because they look at their ballot and all of the TV commercials that you see for some of the key races, it's not on their ballot, and they wonder why; because we have a closed primary," Gold emphasized. "During the general election you will, however, be able to vote for all the races, regardless of your registration status."

You can change your party registration with the county clerk, or in person at early voting, or even on Election Day. Voters should also be aware many legislative districts have new boundaries as a result of redistricting after the last census.

Advocates are contending the New York State Senate is not doing enough to lower the price of prescription drugs.

Recently, lawmakers dropped bills which would have banned "pay for delay" deals and leveraged other countries' lower prices to reduce costs.

AARP New York said those decisions will cost consumers while protecting drugmakers' profits.

This week, AARP delivered 2,200 prescription bottles to the offices of the state Senate Majority Leader and Assembly Speaker.

Joseph Stelling, associate state director for AARP New York, said in a video posted by the group, every pill bottle had a note urging lawmakers to end "pay for delay" agreements.

"Deals that brand-name drug companies are literally paying generic manufacturers to keep generic products off the market longer," Stelling explained. "It costs consumers billions of dollars a year."

The current legislative session is scheduled to end June 2.

Stelling argued there is still time, but lawmakers need to act to get the bills moving.

"We pay three times more than what people in other countries pay for the same prescription drugs," Stelling emphasized. "It's outrageous. We pay far more, and it's not right, and we know we can do better."

Stelling pointed out in the last month, more than 8,000 members have emailed or called elected officials to lobby for an end to "pay for delay."

"If it doesn't happen, it's not because of lack of will of the people," Stelling stressed. "The question here is whether it's people or profits that wins the day."

A 2021 report from advocacy group Public Citizen found Americans spend more on the top 20 most-prescribed medications than the rest of the world combined, with significant disparities for HIV, autoimmune and diabetes medications.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will soon hand down a decision on whether absentee ballot drop boxes are permitted under state law. Ahead of that decision, voting-rights advocates are highlighting the importance of the drop boxes and why they're an essential route to cast a ballot.

Anita Johnson, outreach and education specialist with Souls to the Polls, said at a news conference yesterday that permanently removing the drop boxes is effectively voter suppression.

"This was very convenient," said Johnson, "and an easy way for senior citizens and people with disabilities to make sure that their ballots were in a safe and secure place, and that their vote was counted."

Republican lawmakers argue the drop boxes are essentially ballot harvesting, and they're not explicitly permitted under state law.

But, with permission and guidance from the state's bipartisan Elections Commission, hundreds of drop boxes were used in communities across the state during the 2020 presidential election without major issues.

In January, a Waukesha County Circuit Court held the Elections Commission had overstepped its bounds in permitting the drop boxes, and they weren't allowed under state law.

That decision also determined the person casting the ballot must be the one to submit it or mail it, and no unauthorized third party can handle their ballot.

For Milwaukee resident Martha Chambers, who lost the use of her arms and legs after a horseback riding accident, that's an essentially insurmountable hurdle.

"So, for this new barrier that the Waukesha Circuit Court has put upon us," said Chambers, "it is impossible for me to vote. So they have taken my right to vote away from me."

The American Association of People with Disabilities estimates that nearly a quarter of the national electorate in 2020, or about 35 million individuals, were people with disabilities. Meanwhile, the federal government estimates that about 977,000 Wisconsinites are disabled.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.