Arnold Schwarzenegger, former actor and governor of California, on Wednesday offered to pay for the reopening of polling places in the Southern U.S.
Schwarzenegger tweeted Wednesday:
"I've been thinking about this a lot. I'm a fanatic about voting. Most people call closing polls voter suppression. Some say it is 'budgetary.' What if I made it easy & solved the budgetary issue? How much would it cost to reopen polling places?"
Schwarzenegger added in an ensuing tweet:
"This is a serious question. Is closing polling stations about making it harder for minorities to vote, or is it because of budgets? If you say it's because of your budget, let's talk."
Schwarzenegger's tweet included a link to a 2019 Reuters article that said Southern U.S. states have closed 1,200 polling places in recent years since the Supreme Court weakened a landmark voting-discrimination law in 2013.
Only nine states and the District of Columbia so far plan to hold universal mail-in elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, most states are preparing to make mail ballots an option available by request.