If Congress allows the U.S. Postal Service to fail as President Donald Trump seems willing to do the nations ability to hold free, fair elections would be at risk, as would millions of voters who would be forced to go to the polls during a pandemic if they wanted to exercise their rights.

In the 2016 election, 33 million Americans voted through the mail, using either absentee, military or mail-in ballots. Every state anticipates a significant increase in mailed ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic , with anywhere from a doubling of vote-by-mail to a near 100% replacement of in-person voting. All of the states rely on the Postal Service to deliver and return those ballots.

But the Postal Service projects that the drop in mail volume due to the pandemic could lead it to run out of funds in late summer or early fall. The independent agency is asking Congress for $75 billion in relief funding to keep it afloat, but faces resistance from Trump.

State election officials Republicans and Democrats are joining in the call for the funding to ensure voters have every option available to them to vote in the 2020 elections, given new social distancing needs stemming from the COVID-19 crisis .

America needs Congress to do its part to ensure the very foundation on which we conduct our elections does not crumble, Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos (D) said.

Washington state is one of five states that conducts its elections almost entirely through the mail. If the Postal Service is forced to halt or scale back delivery, it will affect the ability of the state to conduct the election. The same is true of the other vote-by-mail states Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon and Utah.

The U.S.P.S. is integral in our success as a country and ensuring everyone has access to our elections in arguably the most anticipated election in over 100 years, Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman (R) said.